At the Rinks
by MissSherrie
Summary: Bella and Edward are thrown together when Emmett and Edward are on the same hockey team. Over the years they continue to stumble across each other's path. Will they ever explore their mutual fascination?
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1:**

ESME

I don't know why the first practice of the season is always such a disaster. Every year we go through the same routine. The night before, we pull out all of the pylons, pucks, water bottles, first aid kit, etcetera. Somehow, we always manage to forget something. This year, it's the large, wipe-off diagram of the ice surface. Carlisle couldn't find it. I specifically remembered putting it somewhere safe at the end of last season for the express purpose that we wouldn't forget where we put it. But here we were, again, just over an hour before the time of the scheduled practice, ripping the house apart looking for it.

"Any luck, sweetheart?"

"None."

I heard an exasperated sigh escape his lips as I turned the corner in the kitchen to find my normally unflappable husband running his hands roughly through his blonde hair.

"I don't know Esme, are you sure we didn't lose it at the end of last season? I can't think of a single other place to look."

The unmistakable sound of a hockey stick scraping over tile reached my ear from the front foyer, immediately followed by the soft thud of a tennis ball connecting with a wall.

"Jasper! You better not be whacking a ball around inside this house!"

The grumbled reply from our ten year-old son sounded something like "damn supersonic hearing." His scuffling footsteps gave me the impression that he was chasing the ball wherever it had rolled off to.

"Hey!" a surprised-sounding Jasper shouted, "I found it!"

"What's that?" his father called from the study where he was apparently head first into the storage closet.

"The white board. It's here behind the couch in the living room!"

Well, of course. Now I remembered putting it there. I didn't for the life of me remember why I thought that would be a good place to store it.

"Oh, great! Grab it and toss it in the back of my truck, we've got to move to get there on time." Carlisle was already striding quickly toward the front door. Jasper flashed through the hallway, slipping out the door just as his father pulled open the door. His blonde curls bouncing around his head. I grabbed my purse and keys from the entryway table and locked the door, joining them in the shiny new silver SUV.

CARLISLE

The first practice had gone rather well. I was really pleased with the team I had picked this year. I got a few of the kids back from last year's team. I had coached some of them for several years, there were some kids I had known from past seasons who had been on other teams, and a couple of kids I had picked up from house league based on their efforts at the open try-outs.

Of course, my nephew Edward was also on the team. He and Jasper had played together since Timbits hockey. Having them both on the same team was a welcome gift. They didn't even have to look up during a play to know where the other would be. They just knew. I once again mentally thanked whoever put in the protected players clause. As long as my brother-in-law was on my bench, I could protect Edward and keep him on our team.

I had tried out various line combinations today, to try and see if I could put together three really strong ones. Of course, Jazz and Edward were together, but finding a third for them was always tricky. I was going over my notes in the corner of the changeroom while the boys were getting changed when I felt the mood in the room shift.

I looked up to see that the door to the locker room stood partially open and a young girl whom I recognized as one of the new players' younger sister had poked her head into the room and was apparently trying to locate her brother amongst the bags and equipment that was lying around the room. The boys had started to show off in front of her. The posing and posturing in the already cramped room ramped up exponentially.

"Bella, honey, do you know the rules? No siblings are allowed in the dressing room."

Her dark hoodie was up and covered most of her face already, but now she pulled at it to hide herself even deeper under its shadow as I noticed her cheeks begin to turn a hot pink colour.

"I know, I know, sorry, but Mom made me come in to tell Em he's gotta move it or we're gonna be late! I'm going now!" The dressing room door banged shut as she abruptly ducked back out of the room.

Emmett broke off his conversation with Edward and started shoving the rest of his equipment into his bag. "Coach," he asked me while crouched on the floor struggling to zip up his bag, "Can you give Edward our number so he can call me? We're gonna try and get together during the week for some shinny, but I gotta run before Mom pops a gasket!" He shrugged sheepishly at the rest of the kids before scrambling out the door. As requested, I passed along the phone number and turned my attention back to my notes.

~*ATR*~

Practices had been going smoothly and I had most of the defence pairings and lines settled. I ended up putting the new kid, Emmett, as centre with Edward and Jazz as his wings. The three of them had become thick as thieves since they were all addicted to hockey and the PS3. They spent almost all of their free time in our basement or outside playing street hockey in the front yard or swimming in the backyard.

On the ice, they were almost unstoppable. Emmett was solid on his feet, had fast hands and sharp reflexes. I was really looking forward to the first couple of exhibition games we had scheduled.

Between work, hockey, social gatherings, and life in general, the summer seemed to have just flown by. The first game of the new season was in just a few weeks and I had been trying to get the team and their families together for some bonding time. Jasper and Edward really wanted to go paintballing, but I wasn't sure how that would go over with some of the families so we decided on a pool party in our backyard.

It was the last weekend of August and Esme was in full entertainment director and party coordinator mode. I caught flashes of her honey-coloured hair as she spun around and sped from area to area out in the yard making sure everything was set the way she wanted it. As I walked further out on the back deck, I watched her over in the toddler area where she had set up a shallow pool with various nozzles and gizmos that shot water in gentle streams for the little ones to play in.

The entire yard had been converted into a carnival atmosphere. There were various games and craft areas set out, along with several comfy seating areas to relax in out of the direct sunlight.

Esme and her sister Elizabeth had arranged for a catering company to handle the food so that we would all be free to mingle with the other parents during the afternoon, instead of being in the kitchen or chained to the grill. Elizabeth and her two Edwards (Sr. and Jr.) arrived about an hour before the scheduled party start time to help with any last minute details. Jasper and Edward had disappeared into the house immediately while the adults double-checked all of the arrangements and then settled onto the patio furniture and waited for the guests to arrive.

~*ATR*~

The yard was steadily filling before Jazzy and Edward came back outside and started running around with the other boys from the team and some of their brothers. They were organizing a game called Manhunt as I passed by them heading towards some of the further tables, pulling a wheeled cooler behind me to offer drinks to the families seated there. I tried desperately not to roll my eyes as I listed to one of the parents who prefaced every conversation with the phrase "I know I'm no hockey expert…" following by a lecture on the issues with my line selections, length of shifts or whatever the topic of complaint was for that conversation. This time it was about my methods of encouraging the team from the bench. Apparently, I needed to "be more vocal".

A group of the boys had just raced past me toward the back gate when I heard the obvious sounds of a collision of two bodies followed by a loud yelp. I spun on my heel to see Edward lying face down on top of Emmett's sister Bella who was flat on her back just inside the entry to the yard. Edward lifted his head up and froze. Bella's arms lay flat on the ground beside her, her eyes wide as saucers and her face was slowing turning a colour that was quickly approaching almost purple as I lightly jogged over to them.

"DUDE!", Emmett boomed, "Get the heck OFF of my sister!"

Edward blinked then scrambled up offering Bella his hand to help her up. "So sorry, didn't see you!" he mumbled while staring fixedly at his shoes.

Bella sucked in a breath through clenched teeth and the colour of her face retreated to a harsh pink. "No problem. I'm always falling or getting knocked down. Regular day for me." She reached up to grab his hand while Emmett reached out and grabbed her other hand. I watched Edward as his eyes nearly popped out of his head and Bella immediately snatched her hand out of his to grab Emmett now with both hands. She righted herself and pulled the hood of her sweatshirt up over her head as she wobbled over to a nearby chair while cradling the hand she had snatched from Edward's as though it were injured. I made my way over to her slowly watching her carefully as her breathing still hadn't returned to normal.

"Bella," I asked as I knelt down beside her chair, "Do you want me to look at your hand? Did you hurt it when Edward knocked you down?"

"Um, no. It's, uh, okay Dr. Cullen. I'm okay, just a bit shook up. No biggie." She looked at me with brown eyes that were still wide open and glazed over. I nodded and stood stepping back toward Edward who was still standing in the same spot as if frozen to the ground. Curiously, he was also cradling the hand he had offered Bella.

"Edward?" I looked down to his hand, then back to his face, cocking my head to the side in a silent question.

"Oh, no, it's….fine?" It was more of a question than a statement. He looked over to Emmett and smiled at him hesitantly.

Emmett shook his head and muttered, "Jeez man, she's klutzy enough. Doesn't need you to dang near squish her." Then the group of boys that had been standing awkwardly off to the side of the yard began to wander off toward the poolhouse to change into their swimsuits after Jasper hastily suggested they make their way to the pool for a game of Marco Polo.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks to all of you who have read this story and especially those who added it to alerts and left me reviews. You've seriously thrilled me! I hope you enjoy this next chapter. Updates are still expected to be about 3 weeks apart for now.**

**Disclaimer: See my bio page. You and I both know what's not mine.**

BELLA

_What. Was. THAT?_ I stared down at my hand, it felt like it was completely foreign to me. I could still feel the residual tingling in my finger tips.

I was used to being a magnet for trouble. I could almost always see it coming, but this time I had been completely unprepared. Emmett was giving me the standard brother speech. Don't embarrass him in front of his friends, yada, yada, yada. I had just finished sticking my tongue out at him as he opened the gate and I squeezed past him, when I was flattened by a jumble of arms and legs. When I realized I was suddenly flat on my back and someone was ON me, I squeezed my eyes shut. I soon realized I had no idea WHO was on me. I opened my eyes a tiny crack as I felt movement. My eyes locked on a pair of bright green orbs floating inches from my face. He froze in place and stared back at me.

I couldn't breathe, I couldn't speak. I couldn't think except for the one thought that shot to the surface. _He's not that heavy, why can't I breathe_? I could feel my face turning pink, then red. My heart was thundering from my chest right into my head. I stared ahead noticing how his cinnamon brown hair stood out from his head in every direction, suddenly realizing I was still not breathing.

I registered Emmett's surly voice in the air nearby and then the weight was off of me. Suddenly, I felt as though I could take a breath, slowly. I barely opened by lips enough to suck in some air. When that provided some relief, I unclenched my jaw and tried to take some deeper breaths. I realized that he had said something apologetic, and he looked like he was expecting me to reply, so I mumbled something about what an oaf I am to let him off the hook since Emmett still looked like he was going to pop him in the nose.

His hand was out in an offer to help me up and then Emmett's hand appeared too. I reached out my hands to them to pull myself up. As soon as I felt my hand touch his, I felt a shock run up directly through my arm and across my heart.

It scared me so badly that I yanked my hand back and launched it toward Emmett so that I had something to hold on to and didn't end up butt-first on the ground again.

Once I made my way over to the chair, I tried to calm myself back down, but couldn't. When Coach Cullen (who I remembered Dad telling me should be called Dr. Cullen when not at the rink) asked about my hand, I realized I was sandwiching it between my other arm and my belly. It didn't HURT exactly, but it felt odd. I just didn't want him touching it so I brushed him off.

~*ATR*~

EDWARD

I followed my teammates over to the cabana that was bigger and smelled much better than any dressing room I'd even been in to get changed to go swimming, except my head was already swimming. I couldn't shake the strong urge not to go in the water since it might take away the last remaining tingles running through my fingertips. I settled for sitting on the edge of the pool where I could watch the girl sitting in the lawn chair on the other side of the yard with a frown on her face.

Riley kept 'accidentally' splashing me during the game of Marco Polo. I finally gave up watching her when he started jumping up out of the water to see what I was looking at. I launched myself onto his back and twisted so that he legs corkscrewed under him forcing his head under. By the time we were called out of the water to grab something to eat, I was so hungry I could have eaten a horse. I quickly rubbed a towel over my head and body to remove the majority of the water before I dropped it back on a chair and took off at top speed toward the picnic tables covered in every type of food a kid could expect at a barbeque. I filled my plate with a burger, a hotdog, an ear of corn, some potato salad and a couple of mini brownies. I put the plate down on the nearest table and walked over to the coolers to grab a drink. After digging through two of the coolers, I finally found something other than juice boxes and water then stood up quickly with my 7-Up in hand and felt a bump against my hip followed by a soft thud.

"Seriously, dude, what have you got against my sister?"

I turned to see that, sure enough, I'd managed to knock her down, again. CRAP. This time Emmett actually did shove me pretty hard. She was sitting on the grass behind me, and her face was beet red.

"Take it easy Em, apparently he's just as clumsy as I am." At least she was laughing this time.

I held my hand out to help her up, but she looked at me like I might bite her, and Emmett was practically vibrating. I was standing there awkwardly with my hand out and debating what to do now when she finally reached out slowly and took it. I immediately felt the strangest sensation. A warm tingling feeling crept from where her soft fingers were pressed to mine and began to move up my arm. As soon as she was on her feet Emmett was all over her, asking if she was hurt and pulling her away from me.

"No, um, I'm okay, Emmett." She was looking at her feet like they were the most interesting thing in the world.

I felt like such a goof. I'd managed to trample her once and then knock her over. She wasn't too much younger than us, but she seemed tiny. I felt really bad and wanted to make her feel better.

"Look, I'm really sorry…Bella." I think that's her name, right? Crap. I looked to Emmett for confirmation but he was still staring daggers at me so he's no help.

"ISABELLA." He practically spat at me. "Only her friends and family get to call her Bella. You are not family, and right now, you're not a friend either."

He grabbed her by the forearm and stomped off toward the food. As she allowed him to haul her away, she turned back and shrugged at me with a small smile. Well, at least she doesn't seem mad at me.

~*ATR*~

EMMETT

This season was going great. We were in second place and our team was really tight. Since about half of us had played together on Coach Cullen's team last year, we already got along really well and got together fairly regularly outside of the rink as well. I was waiting for a call from Jasper to see if he'd been able to talk his dad into letting me and Edward sleep over at this place tonight. He'd invited us in the change room after today's game, but I'd had to rush off before he'd checked with his parents.

I'd had a bit of a hard time warming up to Edward. That guy seriously needed to stay the hell away from my sister. Every time he got anywhere near her, she ended up hurt, and she certainly didn't need any more hurt at the hands of that guy. As long as we kept it just us guys, I didn't have a problem with him.

I awoke with a start as I landed on the floor on my shoulder. That really friggen hurt. I lay still on the carpet for a few seconds to let the throbbing dull back down. I'd taken a good hit in the corner at this afternoon's game and landing on it sure didn't help it feel any better. I opened my eyes and they were now burning as the bright lights assaulted my foggy senses. I must have fallen asleep stretched out on the couch and fallen off when I tried to roll over.

As I rolled to my stomach and pushed my sluggish body up onto my knees, the phone began to ring. Before I could even make a move to answer it, Bella was all over it.

"Hello, McCarty residence." I watched as her face twisted up and she muttered, "Hold on." She thrust the phone at me, dropped it, and ran from the room as soon as my hand touched it.

"Hello?"

"Hey Em, it's Edward. Jasper's mom said it was okay for us to sleep over. My dad said he'd pick you up on our way over if it's okay with your folks."

"Hey Eddie, let me just check."

I dropped the phone onto the side table and ran up the stairs to see if my parents were okay with the plan.

ESME

As soon as the car had stopped moving, even before Carlisle shoved it into park, the three boys in the back seat were piling out of the doors. Edward and Emmett rushed over to their parents' cars to collect their equipment and then the entire crew of us headed in to the arena.

I stood by the change room speaking with some of the other parents while the kids got dressed for the game. I was in the middle of chiding some parents of kids who had been on our team last year but were now on the opposing team when Carlisle waived me over to ask me to deliver the game sheet to the other team's manager. They were running a bit behind on the pre-game schedule because they wanted to give specific reminders to certain players after some questionable plays in the last game.

I delivered the sheet, then Renee, Garrett, Bella, and I, along with a few other families, headed up to the bleachers to take our seats.

The game was going well, but I still couldn't get used to the fact that this year the game included hitting. Even though the league implemented mandatory hitting clinics, some of the hits were just not necessary, or much more forceful than was required.

A chorus of "oooohs" sounded when there was a hit thrown by the other team's captain. One of our fathers advised, "No, it was a clean hit."

I couldn't stop myself from muttering, "Maybe, but I still don't have to like it."

I smiled as I heard many voices echoing the sentiment. I knew that this was a part of the game, but it still didn't make me feel good to see the kids get sent flying.

The game continued on and seemed to get rougher by the minute. After a particularly questionable call where the other team took a penalty for boarding, which many of our parents felt should have been a hit from behind call, we were all feeling rather upset. I jumped to my feet when Jasper was nailed by a much bigger boy from behind and flew head first into the boards. The stands around me erupted with screaming parents. I held my tongue while I watched my brother-in-law cross the ice to Jasper who still hadn't moved from the spot where he had fallen.

After a few moments, he began to sit up and Ed stood close by while he stood up. They made their way over to the bench as the spectators in the stands clapped. I watched carefully as Ed spent a bit more time with Jaz on the bench before turning his attention back to the game. Jasper didn't return to the ice for the remainder of the game, and although I was fairly sure that he would be fine since they didn't seem to be paying undue attention to him, I knew that I wouldn't be feeling at ease until I had my son in front of me and could speak to him myself.

Sometimes, I really hated this game.

~*ATR*~

EDWARD

"Why don't we ask if we can do the sleepover at my place this time?" Emmett grumbled. "I just got some new games I wanna play."

"What games?" Jasper questioned.

I didn't wait to hear the answer. I didn't really care. I just wanted to hang out with the guys and goof off. Practice was really tough today, and my back and calves were killing me. I ran over to my parents and asked about going over to the McCarty's this afternoon.

Mom walked over to check with Renee to make sure it was cleared with her and I walked back to the guys.

"Oh great, now they're going to be gabbing for an hour before we can get out of here." Jasper eyed his mom, my mom, and Emmett's mom where they were huddled together.

Renee looked over at us and smiled, "You boys go home, get showered, and grab something to sleep in and a change of clothes. We'll see you back at our place after lunch."

Jasper and I high-fived Emmett and charged over to grab our bags and sticks so we could hustle out of the rink.

*~AtR~*

We were on our second hour of massacring the enemy's army when Renee called down the basement stairs asking if we wanted snacks and drinks sent down.

Emmett yelled back that some pop and chips, maybe a bag of cookies would be great.

A few minutes later, a can of Coke materialized in front of my face. I reached out to take it and turned to thank Renee. I stopped speaking mid-word. Bella's face was red as she retracted her arm muttered something about "service with a smile."

I watched as she moved along setting a couple of bags of chips on the middle of the couch then proceeding to the other end of the couch passing Jasper a Coke. Her hair was wet, dripping from the tip of her high ponytail onto the hood of her fuschia hoodie. Her sweatpants were a bit too baggy and she had on fuzzy rainbow-striped slipper socks.

"Wanna stay and play with us?" Jasper asked her.

"NO!" Emmett's voice boomed out, making both Jasper and I jump.

"Grow up, Em," she muttered.

I reached over and slid the bags of munchies onto the floor, making room for her between Jaz and I. Bella gave me a sidelong glance and frowned before she grabbed the extra controller off of the coffee table and settled into her seat.

Emmett grumbled something that sounded like "eyes forward" and "your funeral," then changed the game settings to include 4 players.

*~AtR~*

I sat and stared, mouth hanging open, useless controller in my lap.

"Holy sh..." Jasper muttered, shaking his head from side to side. His eyes were glued to the carnage on the television screen.

Emmett's face was red and it appeared as if every vein in his head was about to explode. His gazed was locked on the screen and his hands furiously manipulated the controller in his hands, and then suddenly it was over. He huffed loudly and turned to glare at Bella.

"You're a freaking menace," he ground out between his clenched teeth.

She smiled slightly and then pulled the hoodie further forward over her face.

"THIS," Emmett growled, "is why I don't play with her anymore."

Apparently, Bella is an expert gamer. She owned each and every game we tried to play, even the sports ones…the girl who could barely walk down a flight of stairs and escape without injury. I was boggled.

"How... but... I..." I just gave up on speaking a coherent sentence. It was official. She had just blown my mind.

Emmett turned his flame-filled eyes on Jasper. "This is YOUR fault."

"Sorry man, I was trying to be friendly. I didn't know she was a flipping sniper!" Jasper's hands flew up in the air in a show of exasperation.

Bella got up from her seat and stepped in front of Jasper. Her eyes darted to me and then over to Emmett before she quickly leaned down and pecked him on the cheek.

"Thanks, J. Every girl loves a gentleman." She was already half way up the staircase before she finished speaking.

I glared at the side of Jasper's face as my hands involuntarily curled into fists. He looked stunned. _Hold on, back up_. Why the hell was I suddenly ready to beat the living daylights out of my cousin and best friend?

I glanced over to catch Emmett's reaction thinking I might need to provide a distraction so Jaz could get a running start, but I flinched when I noticed that instead of glaring daggers at Jaz, he was looking at me like I'd just slapped him.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3: **

EDWARD

Just a few more years. A few more years and I would have my driver's license and not have to rely on my parents to drive me around. Now THAT was something to look forward to. I climbed out of the SUV, thanked Mom for dropping me off at the mostly unfamiliar rink, and went in search of Emmett. It's not like he would be hard to find. The guy had grown about 3 inches in the last few months. If he kept growing at this rate, he was going to be as tall as the flag pole out front.

The first ice pad I came upon was torn up and mostly empty. It looked like a game had recently finished. There were four or five players still on the ice since the Zamboni gate was still closed. I slowed down and stopped just outside the automatic doors. I watched the graceful movements of the bodies before something clicked in my brain. These were girls on the ice. I hadn't noticed at first, but then two long ponytails caught my eye. One a light blonde, the other a dark brown. As I paid closer attention, the names on the jerseys made me scrunch up my nose. I read the name bars, a little confused. SWAN, okay that one could be a real name. But PIXIE, PRINCESS, JESSIE and SMOOCHIE? What's up with that?

SWAN and PIXIE chased each other across the ice in what appeared to be a game of tag while the other three practiced passing drills. The horn sounded announcing the arrival of the ice-cleaning machinery, and they skated to the doors to vacate the ice.

Turning to my right I collided with a body.

"OW! That's my foot you're standing on E!" Emmett stepped back and pushed my back off of his foot. I rubbed my nose since it was now throbbing from crashing into Emmett's chest.

He eyed me speculatively before he spit, "Got the hot and tinglies for the chicks with sticks, Eddie?" His strained voice didn't match his smirking face, but it still made me want to stab him in the dimples with skewers.

"I'm here because you told me to meet YOU here, jerk. Were YOU ogling the 'chicks' on the ice?"

"You know it, buddy!" He slapped me on the shoulder, hard, and I stumbled forward from the force. Damn, he was getting strong too. He walked past me and headed for the door. I followed behind guessing that we were walking back to his house. I mumbled mostly to myself why didn't he just have me meet him there?

We walked through the park and talked about the last game and some mutual friends while we walked. I told him about this girl Sandy from my school who had tripped and fell onto her lunch tray after being a bitch to me and Jaz in the lunch room last week. She thought that Jaz was "impudent" for "daring" to speak with her when he was "only" in Grade 7. Stupid girl. He'd asked her to pass him some napkins in the lunch line, not to go out with him.

Emmett laughed his ass off at my story, and then shared a story about Bella junk-punching some popular jock at their school for presuming to put his arm around her and trying to squeeze her boob in an assembly.

I smiled thinking, _that's my girl_. Uh, what? Back up. My girl? She's not my girl. I shook my head roughly to rid myself of such strange thoughts.

When we reached the McCarty house, we headed straight into the kitchen to grab a quick snack before heading downstairs. We were sitting at the kitchen table stuffing our third cookie sandwich each into our mouths when we heard the front door open and close. Bella headed straight to the fridge and pulled a bottle of orange juice out. I nearly choked on my cookies and ice cream as she rolled the bottle across her neck. I noticed that Bella's face was flushed and she had beads of sweat along her hairline.

The front door opened and closed again, shortly before Renee and Garrett entered the kitchen.

"Hello boys, couldn't wait to catch a ride home Em?" Garrett said shaking his head as he noticed the bag of chocolate chip cookies and tub of French Vanilla ice cream between us on the table.

Bella's head snapped over to the table and her cheeks erupted in various shades of pink. Her eyes flashed from Emmett's to mine. Her head titled slightly and her eyes narrowed as she continued to gaze at me. I then realized that I was staring. I had been ever since she put the glass container to her neck. I blinked and stared down at my lap.

"Good workout, Bells?" Emmett asked.

"Uh, yeah. It was good." Bella excused herself and practically ran from the room.

*~ATR~*

BELLA

I ran all the way up to my room and slammed the door behind me. I hadn't realized that Eddie and Emmett were in the house when we got home. They scared the crap out of me when I realized they were sitting there.

I still could barely speak a word to Eddie. He made my nerves twitch and my stomach began to flip and flop as soon as he even looked in my direction. It was ridiculous really. I needed to grow out of this already.

I momentarily wondered about Emmett asking me how my 'workout' went. He never referred to practices as workouts, but I pushed that thought from my mind as I grabbed the phone to call Alice to see if she wanted to come over later.

"...Lo?" She answered the phone and it was obvious she had been caught with a mouthful of something.

"Hey Ali, whatcha eating?" I tried to cover up my snickering, but it didn't work.

"What, it was a looooong practice. I need to replenish."

"Replenish? Do you have a spelling test this week?" I didn't know why I was purposely aggravating her; I just knew it was fun.

"Shut it Tinkerbella. Did you call me just to take shots at me, or did you have another reason?" Her voice was harsh, but I knew she wasn't really offended. We liked to push each other's buttons.

"Actually, yes. I wanted to know if you wanted to come over later. Remember we were talking about watching that movie on TV tonight? I can ask my Mom if you can sleep over..." I wasn't sure if she'd want to. Emmett had been a giant pain in the ass the last time she and Rose came over after practice. He wouldn't leave us alone and just generally made a pest of himself.

"Sure, were you going to ask Rose, or just me?" I swear those two were practically attached at the hip. I had planned on calling Rose too, but I was a bit annoyed that Alice's agreement seemed to be conditional on whether Rose was coming too.

"Uh, yeah. I was going to ask her too, but am I not good enough for you to hang out with just the two of us?" I couldn't keep the snippy tone out of my voice. I tried. What? I did.

"Birdy, you know that's not it. I just know that she'd really like to come. She likes spending time with you as much as I do. Besides, I think she has other reasons for wanting to be invited." Alice started giggling wickedly.

"What do you know, Brandon?" She refused to elaborate and told me to ask my Mom, then call her and Rose back if it was okay with my parents.

I trotted down the stairs quickly to find Mom. She wasn't on the main floor so I went downstairs to find her. She was in the laundry room sorting loads of clothes by color. I dug in to help since it was a usual part of my chores. I could hear Ed and Em arguing over what video game they wanted to play down the hallway when I started talking.

"Mom, do you think it would be okay if I invite Ali and Rose to come over and watch a movie on TV. tonight?" I decided to start off small, and then lead in to the big question after.

"Well, I think Emmett and Edward already asked if Jasper could join them for a sleepover tonight." She looked over at me apologetically.

Well, crud. That meant that they'd be down in the basement using the big TV. all night.

"But," she continued, "you girls could watch the movie upstairs in the family room. As long as you don't bug the boys, I'm sure it will be fine."

I smiled back at her and debated whether I should even ask the second part of my question. What were the odds that they'd let both of us have sleepovers on the same night. Generally, I only invited the girls to stay over if Em was over at one of the guys' places. Mom must have noticed my indecision, because she called me on it.

"What has your pretty face all screwed up in a frown?"

"Oh, well... I was going to ask if they could sleep over." I hurried to backpedal since her expression had changed to one that didn't look all that promising. "But it's ok, I understand. The boys already asked..."

"BELLA." Her sharp tone caught my attention and I looked up to see her grinning at me. "I didn't say no. Just let me talk to Garrett and I'll let you know, okay?'

"Yeah, okay. Sure. Thanks Mom." I was stunned. I thought for sure she was going to say no. Now I just had to hope that Garrett was okay with it too.

*~ATR~*

Rose and Alice arrived within a few moments of each other and we wasted no time shuffling the family room furniture so that we each had an awesome view of the TV screen to watch the movie. The screen was smaller than the downstairs TV, but it was still plenty big enough to give us an eyeful of our favorite actor. Alice had pulled the recliner over to the left of the sofa and angled it so that she was pointed towards the TV I had taken up my usual spot on the love seat which I hauled closer to the right corner of the couch. Rose was settled amongst her blanket and all the couch throw pillows. We'd stocked the coffee table with various snack foods and drinks that Rose and Alice had picked up on their way over since the boys were sure to plow through whatever Mom had in the cupboards. We were just snuggling into our spots with our pillows and blankets when the doorbell rang. I groaned and muttered for a second before making my move to uncover myself to answer it.

"Stay there grump. I'll get it." Alice chuckled at me and jumped up from the chair to make her way down the hall to the door.

I heard mumbled voices coming down the hall. Jasper shifted his backpack on his shoulder and waived quickly as he passed the room on his way to the basement stairs.

Alice followed a few steps behind him. Her face was flushed and she muttered a quiet curse before grumbling at me, "You could have TOLD me it might be a cute boy."

She kept running her hands through the sides of her dark hair as if she were separating tangles. Her grey-blue eyes were comically wide and focused on the doorway to the basement.

Rose just rolled her eyes, but I actually snorted at that. "You think Jasper is cute?" Wait until I told Emmett. He'd never let her live in down. On second thought, I better not. Because Alice would never let ME live that down. She might be tiny, but the little girl packed quite a shot. I didn't need to be dodging pucks during practices for the next few weeks.

Alice decided that we needed to set the mood by dimming the lighting before she crawled back into the chair as the beginning credits of the movie began to roll.

*~ATR~*

We were sharing a bowl of chips and dip while sharing our favorite moments from the movie when I heard the sounds of heavy steps coming up the basement stairs. Why were boys incapable of travelling without broadcasting their movements? It sounded like a herd of caribou was stomping through the house. I tried to ignore the sounds of cabinets and the fridge door opening and closing repeatedly while we continued our discussion.

I sighed as I heard the voices approaching.

"Watch the food. I think our supplies are about to be raided." Sure enough, the boys rounded the corner and Emmett's eyes immediately settled on the coffee table, which was still covered in various bags and boxes of treats.

"Hey, what are you girls up to?" Emmett's eyes never once left the table.

Rose tsked him, flicking her honey-blonde hair over the shoulder of her white tank top and quipped, "Watching you eyeball our treats, meathead."

Emmett's eyes narrowed as he snapped their focus to meet Rose's indifferent gaze.

The tension in the room ramped up to almost intolerable levels almost instantly.

"Uh, ok. What were you watching?" Edward's nervous voice attempted to break the tension.

Alice took pity on him and launched into an in depth description of the plot, along with a narrative of her opinions of the sets, locations and general impressions on how she would have done things differently had she been in charge of filming. The look on Edwards' face as he attempted to listen to her rapid-fire comments was priceless. I couldn't help the idiotic grin that spread across my face.

My enjoyment of the scene before me was interrupted by the sound of a throat clearing by my shoulder. I looked up to see Emmett scowling at me.

At soon as Alice took her next breath, I tried to interrupt her so that we could redirect the conversation.

"Well, I guess we'll just head back downstairs then. Sorry to interrupt ladies." Jasper was standing by the entrance to the room and looking worriedly between Emmett and Rose.

Emmett and Edward turned and headed out of the room.

"Hey," Rose called out and Emmett stopped walking but didn't turn back to look at her. "I think you'll like these."

She leaned down and grabbed a couple of bags of treats off the table, chucking them to Edward, who nodded and headed towards the stairs.

"Yeah, thanks." Emmett mumbled without looking up as he and Jasper continued down the hallway.

"Uh, okay. That was all kinds of awkward." I slapped my knees and reached for the bag of licorice. "So, where were we?"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Just a reminder that I don't lay claim to any of the Twilight property. For further clarification, please see the disclaimer on my profile.**

**CHAPTER 4:**

JASPER

I wasn't surprised that we had been asked to leave the arena. We were getting a bit rowdy while showing off for the girls working at the snack bar. The last straw had been Edward shoving me into the Christmas scene with the blow up snow globe causing it to deflate. The maintenance guys charged with asking us to leave weren't really physically threatening us, but we decided to not push the issue and just went out front to wait for Emmett.

"I don't understand why we're always meeting Emmett here. Why does he spend so much time at this rink. We don't even play here."

Edward was tossing a tennis ball against the wall with one hand and sighing every couple of minutes. He was obviously impatient to get going. I was pretty sure that Renee's promised lasagna dinner had a lot to do with that. His mom had recently forced them to join her on her "quest for healthier living". Edward and I both harboured a serious carbohydrate addiction. Pasta was his biggest weakness. As soon as the word 'lasagna' had come out of Emmett's mouth, Edward was practically drooling.

"He never misses 'Lil Bird's games unless they conflict with our schedule. Besides, if it's a practice and Renee has to work, he has to help Garrett haul all of the coaching stuff out to the car."

"What are you talking about? What games?"

He was looking at me like I was the one who didn't have a clue what this conversation was about. I shoved his shoulder making him miss the ball, then grabbed it out of the air before it could bounce away.

"Bella's games. All her games are at this rink."

"What the hell are you talking about?" He looked genuinely confused so I decided to spell it out for the poor schmuck.

"Her HOCKEY games, moron. The girl's league is based out of this rink. Emmett comes with his family to watch every game." I laughed at him and chucked the tennis ball at his head.

Ducking to the side he managed to catch it before getting it in the forehead.

"Wait, what? Bella plays hockey? Since when?"

"I don't know, dude, she's not MY sister." I frowned at his accusatory tone of voice and shoved him again.

"How is that even possible? She can barely walk across a stable, flat surface without injury. Why would she strap blades on her feet and venture out on ice? It's like begging for an accident." Edward snickered to himself.

It was true. Just yesterday she fell down the basement stairs after missing the third step. Thank goodness for carpet and thick under-padding. She was sure to be sporting some good bruises from that spill regardless of the amount of padding.

"Apparently, she's pretty good. Emmett's always going on about it."

Edward shot me a disbelieving look and said, "He's never said anything to me about it."

*~ATR~*

EMMETT

My butt was beginning to go numb as we sat on the metal benches waiting for B to exit the change room. I was looking forward to getting home and planting myself on the comfy basement couch when Edward's out of the blue question momentarily stunned me.

"Why doesn't she play in our league?" he asked like he had no clue what the answer is. "She skates circles around most of the other players, and pretty much no one is able to get the puck away from her?"

I stared at him for a second before my anger came rushing back like a freight train. The sheer force of my suddenly raging temper shocked even me a little.

"Are you friggen KIDDING me?" My hands had balled up into fists and I was straining to keep from grabbing the little shit and slamming him against the nearest wall.

Shock and fear immediately registered in his eyes as he quickly stood up and took several steps back away from me.

"What the hell, Emmett?" His hands rose up in a defensive posture and I had to concentrate on controlling my voice and the volume of my response.

"You mean you don't remember?"

"R-remember what, dude? What are you so mad about? Why would I…?" He was slowly turning his head from side to side. I could see the urge to flee clear as day on his face.

"The reason Bella doesn't play in our league ANYMORE. The reason she didn't even touch the ice for almost 2 YEARS?" Was it even possible that he really didn't remember? How could he not remember? It had taken us months of begging to get her to even agree to try to get back on the ice, and even then, she'd only agree if she could join the girl's league. She wouldn't even consider going back to the same league as me, as US.

"What do you mean 'anymore'? What the hell are you so pissed at me for, Em?"

"Holy crap. You seriously don't remember, do you?" I laughed and shook my head as I flexed my hands, which we aching from the tight fists I'd been clenching them in. "Bella started hockey the same year the rest of us, Ed. She was in hockey school with us."

I couldn't help but smirk a little at his obviously confused expression. I was starting to calm down a bit, but I could still feel my anger fizzling under the surface.

"She was always one of the best. One of the fastest, one of the best puck-handlers, you know... like you."

His eyes widened and then his gaze drifted off. I could tell his mind was drifting back to those years. I decided to give him a little more background to jog his memory.

"She loved it. She was so clumsy on any surface, except the ice. It was the ONE place she felt free. She found something she was good at, and she was so HAPPY."

I continued, "She played her first year of house-league with so much joy. She didn't care that she couldn't play any other sports without falling or causing injury to others. Her team meant everything to her. She was a pain in the neck all that summer constantly asking when the next season started. When September finally came around and she started the next season, she was so excited we practically had to peel her off the ceiling. The first few games were great. She did well and there was another player on her team that she worked really well with. Their team was winning almost every game."

I watched his face carefully as I spoke. I wanted to see it…the flicker of recognition. I needed to know what his reaction was. It would make a really big difference in how this conversation went going forward.

"Then things started to change. She was less enthusiastic about game days. She stopped going full tilt during the games. She wouldn't talk to any of us about what had changed. It was the weirdest thing. Finally, during one game where she'd basically just go on the ice and follow along slowly behind the play, Dad decided he was going to tell her that if she wasn't even going to try and help her team, he was going to pull her from the game. He and Renee were discussing what they thought might be going on when I noticed her apparently arguing with the kid next to her on the bench. She stood up and leaned right into his face and began yelling. The kid stood up and yelled right back at her. Next thing I knew, she was throwing punches. The coach pried the two kids apart and Dad ran down the stairs from the bleachers and around the rink over to the bench. Renee held my arm to keep me next to her when I tried to follow him."

Edward's eyes widened as I spoke. His mouth dropped open as I saw the realization dawn on him.

"Izzy. Isabella. Oh, shit..."

If I wasn't still in big brother mode, I may have laughed at the wave of revulsion that swept across his face.

"What did you say to her, Edward? Do you remember?"

His gaze snapped to me and his mouth opened and closed comically. He looked like a large-mouthed bass.

"Em, I was a seven year-old kid! Oh, god. I was such an idiot. I was... I was jealous. She always beat me to the puck. She was faster. I - I..."

I took a sick pleasure in the panic that I saw as he realized that HE was the reason I was so mad. The reason that for YEARS I had given him such a hard time. Why I didn't want him anywhere NEAR her. Why I was always pissed when she was nice to him. He'd taken her love for the game and stomped on it.

"I told her that real girls didn't play hockey. That boys would never like her. Some stupid shit like that."

He swallowed hard as he looked through the glass sliding doors into the rink, then his gaze landed on the change room door. He started to move towards it and I grabbed his arm tightly and spun him so that his attention was forced back to me.

"I have to talk to her. I have to apologize. I was just a kid, a little jealous jerk." He was running his hands through his hair and yanking at it so hard I was sure he was going to give himself a bald spot.

"Look, it's over now. She's gotten past it. Leave it in the past Edward. You're not going to do yourself any favors bringing it up now." I loosened my grip on his arm but didn't let go.

"Wait. You said she didn't get back on the ice for two YEARS. Just because I was a jealous dumbass and said some stupid shit to her?" His expression looked like someone had run over his puppy.

"Yeah," I cleared my throat and continued. "She thought of you as her friend. She loved playing with you. You guys made a really good team. After we left the rink that day she wouldn't even watch hockey on TV with us anymore. Later that week Renee found her sticks and hockey bag out at the end of the driveway with the garbage."

He seemed lost in thought for a moment. I took the opportunity to remove my hand from his arm since he didn't seem to be trying to leave anymore.

"Yeah, I remember now. The rest of that season wasn't so hot. I remember wondering why she disappeared. I asked the coach once, and he just shook his head and didn't answer me." Edward sat back down on the bench and rested his elbows on his knees, settling his head between his hands and looking down at the floor.

I couldn't help it, I laughed at his bewildered expression. "Dad told them she'd broken her arm or leg or something playing street hockey with me, so she'd be out for the rest of the season."

I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. That had been a terrible time. Bella didn't come out of her room other than for school and meals for two weeks. She'd come to the arena with us for my games, but stayed in the lobby and read a book. She took until the next NHL season to even watch a game with us and almost another full year before we managed to convince her to play with the girl's league. I remembered well the dullness that had replaced that spark in her eyes for that time. She'd never seemed to feel the same about the game. Even as her talent for the game didn't diminish, it was obvious her enjoyment of it had. I'd never forgive him for that. I know he was just a little kid, but he ruined something special for my sister and I'd always hate him a little for it.

*~ATR~*

EDWARD

I felt sick. My mind was whirling and my guts were following along for kicks. I told Emmett to make up an excuse to his parents. I didn't feel like I'd be able to sit at their dinner table across from Bella without hurling onto my plate.

I was such an ass. My spoiled little ass had bullied Bella right out of hockey. Not just off our team, or even the league, but out of the whole damn SPORT. What kind of person does that? The more I concentrated on that time, the more I remembered. I recalled goofing around with "Izzy" in hockey school. There had been quite a few girls there then. The all-girl league just didn't have the resources to put on as big of a training program so most of them joined the boys' league's hockey school. She always smiled and laughed her way through the drills. She was always happy, always gave her full attention and effort to whatever we were told to do. Even the stupid drills like taking shots at the boards. She was happy to do it.

A couple of years later when she was on my house league team, I was really happy to see her again. There were no sponsors for the house league teams back then. A lot of the teams didn't have any money to spend nor did the parents want to fork over the money to get name bars on the jerseys. I'd only every known her as "Izzy". I never made the connection…not until earlier today when Emmett so clearly spelled it out for me.

A few games and practices into the season I began to get jealous. I'd been the best player by far on the previous year's team, then along came this girl who could easily keep up with me, if not kick my butt. After practice, I would be bent over, lungs and legs burning and she'd just stand there laughing and smiling. I was jealous, so I said stupid things to her. I remembered telling her that real girls didn't play hockey. I told her that she looked fat in her equipment. I told her so many really mean and stupid things. The more I went over it in my mind, the more awful I felt. Especially when I remembered the last words she ever said to me as they were pulling her off of me on the bench.

"No one will ever want you or love you, Eddie. You're mean, nasty, and ugly. On the INSIDE. And that's where it really counts."

God, she was so right. I felt like such an ass. How would I ever be able to show my face at the McCarty's place again? Why did they ever let me in? The only reason I could think of was that Renee and Garrett didn't realize who I was. If I was them, I'd have never let the kid who did something so petty to my child anywhere near my house.

By the time I made it home, I had pretty much talked myself into spending the rest of my life avoiding the McCarty family. I was positive I'd never be able to face them again.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thanks again to the lovely and talented ACullenWannabe for her assistance with my incomplete thoughts. FYI ACW, I replaced toque with knitted hat. Better? ;)**

**DISCLAIMER: Not mine, just playing in SM's Barbie condo... See profile for full legalese.**

**CHAPTER 5:**

CARLISLE

I blew the whistle three times sharply to announce the end of practice. Once again, Edward dove off the ice and practically sprinted to the change room. Before the last of the boys had even made it into the room, he was halfway changed and frantically tossing equipment into his bag. I scanned the room and watched as Emmett eyed him with an expression I couldn't read. Something was going on between those two and it was starting to affect the rest of the team.

Edward was avoiding Emmett like the plague. He wouldn't even make eye contact. I made my way to his side and put my hand on his shoulder as I leaned down to speak into his ear.

"I don't know what's going on, and I'm not going to ask you about it right now. Your family is coming over for dinner tonight and you and I are going to take a few minutes to talk."

He looked up at me and nodded quickly. I was stunned by the depth of the sadness reflected in his eyes. He quickly zipped up his bag and bee-lined it for the door. I shook Ed Sr.'s hand and he just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head indicating that he didn't know what was going on. I just smiled and told him we'd talk about it later.

*~AtR~*

EDWARD

I walked out of my Uncle's office feeling chastised. He'd spent twenty-five minutes lecturing me on what it means to be a part of a team. He preached about how when there is a problem between one member of the team and another member of the team, it not only affects those players, but it causes problems for the whole team. I knew he was just trying to figure out what was going on, but I had no idea how to explain why I couldn't even look in Emmett's direction. I didn't want my Uncle, a man I had looked up to and admired my entire life, to know what a complete ass I was.

I walked down the hallway with my head down and was startled when a hand gripped my wrist and dragged me into the family room.

Jasper let go of my arm and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He was standing in front of me with his face all screwed up in a frown. I could tell he had something on his mind, so I decided to wait him out. I was pretty sure I already knew what he wanted to talk about anyway.

"So, I'm confused. We've known Emmett from hockey for years. He's always been a fun, happy kind of guy. The only exception was for a few years when he would get pissy when your name came up. I never really asked why because the two of you were never on the same team until a couple of years ago when Dad picked him for our team."

He took a few steps back and sunk down into the overstuffed couch. I shuffled over to the matching chair and pulled my legs up and over the arm after dropping into it.

"When Dad and I ran into Emmett and his Dad the day after the draft that first year and told him he'd been selected for our team he was excited as hell until Dad ran through the roster and he heard your name. Then he really looked pissed off."

He leaned back and eyed me carefully.

"Do you want to tell me why, after he seemed to warm up to you after the first few months, suddenly now things are all weird? In fact, we all seemed to be best buds for a while. Then a couple of weeks ago you started acting like he's always about to hit you." He paused, took and breath, and continued. "Funny thing is, he doesn't look mad. Confused maybe, but not mad. So what the hell is going on?"

He crossed his arms over his chest and fixed me with his most expectant look.

I briefly considered telling him I didn't know what he was talking about. Jasper was a really great listener though, and I could really use a shoulder to lean on right about now.

*~AtR~*

JASPER

After Eddie had spilled his guts to me last week, I had to bite my tongue to not give both he and Emmett a piece of my mind. Yeah, what Eddie had said to Bella was mean and just plain stupid, but he'd been a little kid. Let's face it, kids are dumb. At least Emmett had carried that anger around for a long time but was willing to give Ed another chance. Ed however, wouldn't cut himself any slack at all.

I was standing by the door chatting with some of the guys while waiting for Dad to finish up his post-game huddle with the coaching staff when I noticed Bella standing off to the side. She was twisting her long, dark hair into a rope and then wrapping it around her finger and flicking at it with her thumbnail.

Her eyes widened as I told the guys I'd talk to them later and made my way over to her.

"Hi, Bella."

"Uh, hi Jasper." She dropped her eyes to my shoes and kept her attention focused there. "You guys haven't been coming over to the house lately. Found a better place to hang out I guess, huh?"

I could hear the disappointment, or was it anger, in her voice. Well crap, how did I explain the situation? I was willing to bet that Emmett hadn't told her what had really happened, if he'd told her anything at all.

"Uh, yeah. We've been hanging around our place or Eddie's place lately."

"Huh. Um, well… You know, I'm sorry. If you guys didn't want Alice, Rose and me hanging around while you guys were over you could have just said so and we'd have stayed upstairs." Her cheeks were doing their first-class tomato impression again.

"Uh, no. No, that's not it. We didn't mind. Well, I didn't anyway. I can't speak for the other guys."

She looked up at me and flashed a small smile. She reached out and gave my hand a little squeeze as she walked past me over to where Emmett and Garrett had exited the change room.

This had gotten ridiculous. Somehow, I had to convince Edward to just let it go. He'd made the situation so much worse now. Bella had obviously decided to let it go since she'd been nothing but nice to all of us, Ed included. He needed to just forget about it already.

*~AtR~*

BELLA

I heard Garrett call me off and pushed myself to get to the bench quickly. I pulled up hard at the door to let Rose take over then jumped off the ice and made my way down the bench. I grabbed my bottle and doused my face with water to cool off before taking a few deep gulps. I focused on the center for the opposing team and watched as she deftly threaded every hole in our defense. We finally caught a whistle as her winger stepped offside. I shuffled down three places as the line changed.

"Your stalker's here again…"

I turned to look at Alice who had plunked onto the bench beside me. "My who?"

"Your stalker, your shadow… Whatever…" She lifted her chin and motioned toward the far corner of the bleachers. I saw a guy sitting to the side away from all the other spectators. He had a knitted hat pulled low over his forehead and the collar of his jacket was zipped all the way up. He was obviously trying to be inconspicuous, but I could see his bright green eyes and regal nose clearly. Edward's features were easy to pick out even from this distance.

"What are you talking about?" I looked over at my pint-sized friend and noticed her roll her eyes at me.

"Oh, Stink-er-bells. You're so oblivious. He's been here for the past month watching our games and most of the practices. He never takes his eyes off of you."

"That's ridiculous." I shook my head at her vigorously. "He's probably just meeting Emmett."

"Uh, huh. Sure. That's why he's sitting at the far end of the bleachers, hiding out under his Nanook of the North get up." She snorted and rolled her eyes at me again. "Why wouldn't he just go over there and sit with him then?"

I stared at her blankly for a moment before shrugging. "I have no idea."

I looked back to Edward to find that sure enough, he wasn't even watching the game. His eyes were focused directly on me. I'd never been so happy to be wearing a full-face cage in my life. Hopefully it hid the raging blush that crept over my face.

*~AtR~*

EMMETT

Bella jumped back out on the ice but it was immediately evident that something was wrong. She missed a perfect pass then fanned on a sure shot. Her attention seemed to be drifting. It didn't take long before she was called off the ice and I could see Dad giving her a stern talking to.

She didn't even move to sit back on the bench; she shuffled directly to the back bench. Something was definitely wrong. I watched her for a couple of minutes waiting for her to shake off whatever was distracting her and get back into the fray. She didn't even make a move to get back on the main bench. I noticed that her attention wasn't on the game at all. I watched her carefully and noted that she seemed to be staring up into the stands. I craned my head around to see what she was focused on. I nearly choked on my own saliva when I noticed Edward huddled up in the stands looking like he was about to go on an arctic expedition.

I stood quickly from my seat and started up the stairs toward the landing. I took a quick look back at Bella to see that she was now watching me warily.

Edward's eyes didn't leave Bella the entire time I made my way over to him. I kept checking the bench as I walked, but Bella still hadn't made a move to get back on the ice.

I walked behind him and tried to decide how to I wanted to approach him. I knew he was still skittish and had barely said an entire sentence to me off the ice in the past month. I did a quick run through of all my options and decided to go with humour.

"Whatcha doin', Eddie? Ogling the ladies again?"

I suppressed my chuckle as he nearly fell forward off the bleachers. I hadn't seen anyone startle that badly since the first time we all watched a horror movie in the basement and the cat ran across the back of the couch during a chase scene. Jasper practically wet himself.

"Jeez, Emmett! What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack?"

Edward was clutching at his chest and blinking rapidly.

I reached over and clapped him on the shoulder. "Nope, just wondering why you're finding it necessary to distract Lil' Bird when she was having a stellar game."

"Oh! Uh… I didn't…. I mean… Well, you see… I just…"

"Breathe Edward. Cripes, man. Take a deep breath and start again. What's going on?"

He tore the hat off his head and proceeded to run his hands through his hair and grip it tightly at the back of his head while pulling on it.

"I don't know, Em. I'm sorry. I just, I need to talk to her. I need to apologize. I can't do it though. I come here determined to talk to her and then can't do it."

He winced and turned his head away from me looking down at his hands that were now twisting together in his lap.

"If you're going to hit me, Em, can we just get it over with? I should go. I'm just gonna go."

I reached out and grabbed his arm, surprised that he flinched away from me.

"Oh come on, Edward. I'm not going to hit you. I've had moments where I really, really would have liked to, but today isn't one of them."

I let go of his arm as he turned to look me in the eye. I could tell he was trying to decide whether I was being truthful. I sighed heavily because even a big dolt like me could see that he was struggling.

"How many times have you come here to try and talk to her?"

He chuckled humorlessly and answered, "Every week since you reminded me what an ass I am."

I shook my head and patted him on the back.

"Seriously, dude. You have to just let this go. She's past it. You aren't going to do any good by bringing any of this up again."

I tugged his sleeve as I stood up to lead him out of the rink. Bella's attention was focused on us and she wasn't going to get back in the game anytime soon if she was busy watching us. I put my arm on his shoulder to guide him up the steps and looked over my shoulder at Bella, motioning for her to get back on the ice.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry for the delay on this update. I had a plot bunny bite me hard and deep. Sucker just wouldn't let go. I managed to get enough of it down and roughed out that it loosened it's grip. Thanks again to the lovely and talented ACullenWannabe for her time and assistance. And for Sweets, if you're ACTUALLY reading this, I want some feedback damn it! Here's your update, as promised. **

**CHAPTER 6:**

EDWARD

I stood outside on the front porch of the McCarty's house for a good two minutes before I mustered up the courage to ring the doorbell. Mom was sitting in the car looking at me like I'd lost my mind. She couldn't just drive off after she dropped me off. Nope, she had to wait to see me enter the house before she'd leave. If not for that fact, I'd have probably stood here for ten minutes before I even _thought_ about pressing the doorbell.

The front door swung open and I was immediately surrounded by practically the whole team as they spilled out onto the porch. Riley gave me a shove into the house from behind, and Larry ripped my sleeping bag out of my hands and hurled it down the hallway towards the basement stairs. Emmett was standing off to the side holding the door open as I was prodded down the hallway. I gave him a weak little half-wave as I followed the mob downstairs.

"Alright boys," laughed Garrett. "The pizza is on the way so get yourselves settled downstairs and we'll give you a call when it arrives."

Renee appeared at his side and appeared surprised to see me.

"Hello Edward, we weren't sure if you were going to be able to make it. We haven't seen you around much lately."

I could hear the curiosity in her statement and was glad when Emmett half dragged me down the hall as I responded with mumbled excuses, followed by a half-hearted, "Thanks for having me."

We finished off the pizza and headed outside for a game of street hockey before it got too late. The summer weather was warm but not too hot in the early evening. I tried to keep my attention on the game, but I was losing that battle badly.

Emmett finally pulled me out of the line-up and over to the porch.

"What's up, man. You look like you're ready to take off. What's got you all freaked out?"

"Uh, well…" I swallowed around the lump in my throat and decided to just spit it out. "I'm kind of freaked out about running into Bella. I just don't know what to say to her. I want to apologize, but I don't really know how. I don't really want to bring all this stuff up to her."

Emmett erupted into loud laughter. He slapped me hard on the shoulder before calming down and shaking his head at me.

"Dude, she's not here. She's gone to visit her Dad for a couple of weeks. That's why we picked this weekend to do the team sleepover. Otherwise we'd have had to deal with her and the wonder twins hanging all over us."

My relief must have been plain on my face because he started laughing like crazy again. I took a deep breath before what else Em had said registered with my brain.

"Wait, what? What do you mean gone to visit her Dad?" My brain started to spin.

"Uh, yeah. She goes for a few weeks every summer to stay with Charlie." Emmett's tone was patient, but his expression looked anything but.

"Charlie? Who the hell is Charlie?" I scratched at my chin and cocked an eyebrow at him. "So…wait… Garrett's not her father?"

"No dipshit. No more than Renee is my mother." He was shaking his head at me.

"I didn't know that." It was lame, but that's the only thing I was thinking, so it came out of my mouth. "So what, she's your step-sister?"

"Well we're certainly not twins, moron. Bella and me have birthdays six months apart. We're in the same grade. We also have different last names. Hers is SWAN and mine is McCARTY. You're telling me in all the time that I've known you, you've never noticed that?"

"Well, no. I've never known when Bella's birthday is. I've never gone to the same school as you guys, so I don't know what grade she's in or how old she is. I figured she was a year younger than us, and how was I supposed to know her last name is Swan? Sure, it's on the back of her jersey, but Alice's says 'Pixie' and Rose's says 'Princess'. I thought they were all nicknames…"

Emmett just slapped me on the back again as he walked back towards the rest of the guys. "Her birthday is in September. She'll be fourteen, just like us. Our parents got married when we were three. Technically, she's my step-sister, but I don't think about her that way. She's my little sister, and I'll mess up anybody who gives her a hard time." He raises his eyebrow pointedly at me and grabs his stick off the lawn before joining the game.

*~AtR~*

Jasper, Emmett, and I spent the next few weeks hanging out almost every spare moment. It was the summer before we would all be starting at the same high school. Jasper and I had gone to school together since kindergarten and Bella and Emmett had always gone to a school not more than five minutes away, but on the opposite side of a main road that formed the school admission boundary. Now, we'd all be together. Many of our past teammates would also be attending the same school. This year was sure to be a great time.

We spent sweltering days in Jasper's pool, cloudy days playing street hockey in front of Emmett's house, and rainy days discussing girls and music. Okay, mostly girls.

It felt good to have my life back to normal, but I wasn't convinced it would last. Bella would be back soon, and I was still determined to make up for my actions. Emmett, Jasper, and everyone who knew about the situation tried to convince me to drop it, but I just couldn't let it go.

*~AtR~*

EMMETT

We were standing in the arrivals area waiting for Bella's flight to arrive and I was really wishing I had packed some snacks. I wasn't expecting the flight to be delayed due to heavy fog. The board showed that the plane arrived about fifteen minutes ago so she should have been coming out of that door any minute now.

I thought back to the week Bella had left to go visit her father, when Dad and Renee sat me down and dragged out of me what was going on with Edward. They told me they knew something must have happened because all of a sudden he didn't come over anymore, or invite me over there. That in fact, he was avoiding me like crazy and wouldn't even look at them when they had tried to greet him at the rink. The annual team sleepover was usually held at the Cullen's place, but there was some problem Coach had to take care of at the hospital, and Esme wasn't prepared to take on a house full of rowdy teenagers by herself. My parents agreed to host it at our place but wanted to know why Edward was adamant that he wasn't able to come. Once I had told them about the discussion Ed and I had about how he'd treated 'Lil Bird all those years ago, I got a lecture about how I should have told them earlier so that they could have explained to him that they'd just written it off to kids being kids. They were sure they could have convinced him that Bella was doing fine now. I wasn't so sure, but I didn't argue.

Esme and Renee had gotten on the phone and pretty much forced Edward to come. I still chuckled every time I remembered the terrified look on his face when I'd answered the door. Thank goodness the awkwardness dissipated quickly and over the next few weeks things went pretty much back to normal.

Dad and Renee had invited Eddie and his parents over for dinner this past weekend to talk it all out. I didn't miss the disappointed looks on Ed Sr. and Elizabeth's faces as the entire mess was laid out at the dinner table over coffee, tea, and pie. Edward didn't either. You could almost see him sinking further and further down into his seat with each word my Dad spoke.

After the tale had been told, he told our parents that he still felt like he needed to apologize, but didn't know how to do it. He'd been avoiding us all because he was embarrassed.

They'd all understood his need to apologize and encouraged him to just go ahead and say it. At least then, it would be out there. How Bella reacted would be up to her. Renee asked if he wanted her to prepare Bella, but he'd quickly refused. He didn't want there to be any build up beforehand. He just wanted to say his piece and be done with it.

He'd told me later that night that he wouldn't be surprised if she didn't accept his apology, nor would he blame her, but at least he'd feel better for saying it.

I just smiled at him sadly. He obviously didn't know much about Lil' Bird. She was forgiving to a fault. She'd already forgiven him years ago, long before I did.

After that night, things seemed to be much better. Edward quit avoiding us and he and Jaz came over often and hung out at our place. Things had been fine until he overheard Renee talking to his Mom yesterday about how excited she was that Bella was going to be home today. His light-hearted mood soured and he went home with his folks after land training instead of coming over like he'd originally agreed.

I was deep in thought going over how I could snap him out of his funk when I felt small arms wrap around my middle from behind.

"Hello you big bear, you!"

I turned around and lived up to my nickname by giving her a tight bear hug.

"Hello Little Bird, how was your visit? Did you and Charlie say more than a dozen words to each other over the last three weeks?"

She blushed and slapped at my chest as she pulled away from me. From what I'd seen and experienced over the years, Charlie seemed like a really nice guy, but he was just like Bella. They were observers. They watched everything, but never said much.

"Har, har, Emmett. You're hilarious. What the heck have you been eating all summer? You look like you've grown a foot!"

I smiled widely and nodded. "Not quite, but I have grown about five inches since you left."

She stopped and spun around gaping at me wide-mouthed. "Get out of here! Really?"

"Nope, he's totally serious. I can't keep enough food in the house lately with all the boys coming and going daily. They've all starting growing like some kind of alien weeds."

Renee threw her arm around Bella's shoulder and gave her a squeeze as they walked towards the exit. Dad and I gathered up her suitcase, carry on, and backpack and followed them out the door.

The car ride home was full of smiles and laughter as Bella regaled us stories of her summer. She had spent an extra week so that she and Charlie could go camping with her friend Angela and her family. Apparently, it didn't even take a full day for Bella to realize she was not an outdoor plumbing kind of girl. I could picture her reaction perfectly as she recounted finding not only spiders and crickets in the outhouse, but having a near heart attack and screaming like a banshee when a live snake slithered across the floor as she tried to take care of business.

She told us about spending the days when Charlie had to work hanging out with his best friend Billy's son, Jacob, who'd followed her around like a puppy. From her description of his behavior, I could tell that little Jake was crushing on Birdy something awful, but she was completely oblivious.

The nights Charlie worked Bella had spent with Charlie's friends Harry and Sue and their kids Leah and Seth. Bella and Leah apparently didn't really hit it off, but she'd found a kindred spirit of sorts in Seth. They spent hours late into the nights listening to music and reading. It didn't sound like a fun way to spend an evening to me, but apparently she'd really enjoyed it.

*~AtR~*

BELLA

I hated airports. They were stuffy and crowded, two of my least favorite things. I couldn't wait to get out of this building and back home to the comfort of my room. I tried to stay to the side of the hallway to avoid being run down by the rush of harried travelers. Once I reached the arrivals area, my eyes immediately landed on Emmett. He was impossible to miss. I blinked and shook my head to make sure I wasn't seeing things. In the relatively short time I'd been gone Emmett had turned into the Jolly Green Giant, minus the green part. He stood almost as tall as Garrett. His shoulders were nearly as broad and his usually muscular limbs were practically gangly. He appeared to be staring off into space so I easily approached him from behind and dropped my bags and suitcase to the floor before wrapping my arms around him. Before I left, my forehead would have rested comfortably behind where his shoulder met his neck, now it hit him just under the shoulder blade.

Emmett teased me about my visit with my Dad, and chided me about our usually non-verbal methods of communication. It had always amazed him how much Charlie and I could communicate through a nod, or a wink, or a smile. I deflected the conversation and we talked about Emmett's growth spurt before heading for the car.

I shared stories of some of the parent-friendly events from my summer and knew that Emmett would grill me for the more rowdy details. Not that there was anything too terribly risqué; I just wasn't a very rebellious type. I was quite content to fly under the radar. Aside from sneaking into Angela's older brother's party before getting unceremoniously tossed out by said brother, and a cliff diving expedition with Jake and some of his friends that we decided Charlie didn't need to know about if the guys wanted to keep their entire anatomy intact, I'd had a pretty tame summer.

Once we had arrived home, Emmett and Garrett helped me lug all of my stuff into the house. I had washed my laundry before leaving so the only things I had to toss into the hamper were my pajamas from last night. I unpacked my suitcase and returned my computer and books to their places before flopping down onto my back on my mattress. I let my eyes wander around my room re-acclimating myself to my surroundings. There were many similarities between my two rooms. They were both decorated in purples and lavenders, the furniture was white painted wood, and there were wood floors covered in throw rugs. The artwork on the walls in either room consisted of movie posters and random doodles I had created and taped to the walls. Nonetheless, I was glad to be back home. Don't get me wrong, I felt very comfortable at Charlie's and I felt just as happy to spend time there with him, but this was home and I had missed it greatly.

The doorbell ringing throughout the foyer woke me. I rubbed the back of my hand over my eyes to rub the sticky lids apart. I heard mumbling from downstairs and then Emmett's voice got louder. My stomach growled lightly reminding me that the last thing I ate was a tiny and unsatisfying airplane meal. I haul myself out of my comfortable cocoon. I must have gathered my comforter around me as I slept. The air conditioned room seemed chilly to me now so I grabbed a sweatshirt from my dresser and began to pull it over my head as I headed for the stairs. I got the shirt half way over my head and down the first couple of steps before I heard his voice. My heart skipped a beat and my foot caught on the carpeting just as I managed to pull the shirt down around my neck. I pitched forward and thankfully managed to grab the banister before I plunged head first down the staircase. I righted myself and looked down the stairs to find two sets of eyes focused on me. The bright blue pair seemed concerned, but the grey-green pair held my attention.

"Hi, Bella." His voice had gotten deeper and he'd also had a growth spurt. His hair was longer than usual and hung down across his forehead and into his eyes. His shoulders had also broadened and his face seemed sharper somehow, less rounded.

"Uh, hi. Nice to see you, Eddie." I have no idea why I said that, but it is nice to see him.

"Yeah, you too. Do you have a minute?" He looked at me with the strangest expression. I tried to comb my mind to put a name to it. I'd almost swear it was fear, fear and panic.

"Sure. What's up?"


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** THanks again to the lovely ACullenWannabe for taking time out of her crazy schedule to make sure I don't make a complete ass out of myself. (Is it just me, or does the word "but" appear WAY too much in this chapter?) KS - Still waiting on your feedback. Don't make me come out to the farm and repo your horse to get your attention!

**CHAPTER 7:**

EDWARD

I turned and walked back out onto the front porch and pausing slightly before deciding to head over to the swing off to my left. I settled onto the furthest cushion and patted the cushion beside me to let Bella know that I wanted her to join me.

She frowned at me slightly before she came over and sat slowly down about a foot away from me. Well at least she hadn't cuddled up to the far end…

I cleared my throat nervously and ran the fingers of my left hand through my hair, tugging at the back before dropping my hand into my lap where it tangled with the other hand. I peeked up at her to see that she was watching me warily. I struggled with where to begin. I'd gone over this conversation a million times in my mind, but every single word I'd planned currently escaped me.

I decided that I'd start somewhere harmless and work my way in.

"So did you have fun at your… Dad's place?" The way the word "Dad" had come out sounding more like a question that the rest of the entire sentence. I'm such an idiot.

"Yeah," she smiled lightly, "I always love the time I get to spend with him."

I waited for a moment, hoping she'd continue. When she didn't I reached for a new topic.

"Um, so school starts soon. Have you got everything you need yet?" Yeah, it was a lame question, but I was really starting to regret coming over to have this conversation right now. I was on the verge of a panic attack, and she still had no idea why I was here.

"Nooo, I just got back, Edward. Other than a couple of new tops and a pair of jeans I picked up over the summer… Mom and I still have a lot of stuff to pick up." She shifted her position by pulling her left foot up and tucking it under her right knee and twisting her body so that she was looking at me while I fidgeted like a toddler who needs to go use the potty.

"Look, Bella… I really don't know how to say what I want to say, so I'm just going to spit it out and hope it comes out right, okay?" I raised both palms and scrubbed them over my face in frustration. I took a deep breath puffing up my cheeks then let all the air out slowly. "When I was little, a toddler, I was fascinated by the ice. My parents always tell me that I had to be watched like a hawk when Mom took me to watch Dad play in his men's league hockey games. If someone didn't close the door to the ice fast enough, or heaven forbid left the door open, I would charge out onto the ice. Apparently, I've always known it was where I wanted to be."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that her gaze was focused on my hands. I looked down to see that I had been scratching the base of my right thumb with my left hand and had left a few pretty good scrapes. I shoved both hands under my thighs to try and avoid further fidgeting.

"As soon as I was three, my Dad and I were signed up for parent tot skating lessons. Dad brags about how I was a natural and started skating virtually on my own right from the beginning. Mom says it took a few weeks, but in any case, I took to it like a duck to water."

"Eddie, I don't get…"

I cut her off and trudged forward with my story before I lost my nerve.

"By four, I was moved up through the age groups to skate with kids a year or two older than me. When I was five, they signed me up for hockey school. There were some kids at the rink who looked like they'd never been on the ice before. The second week, one kid stepped out on the ice and fell straight down landing flat on his back. He burst into tears and started crawling toward the door to get off the ice."

I turned my body and adjusted my legs to copy Bella's position as her eyes flicked up to meet mine. She smiled and softly said, "Emmett."

"Yeah, Emmett." I confirmed, nodding. "Right away there was a tiny player who went over to him, helped him up, and spent the entire hour glued to his side to make sure he didn't feel alone. When one of the other kids tried to give him a hard time about his balance the little spitfire gave him an earful and made sure that no one else tried to pick on Em."

Her eyes shone as she drifted into her own memories of that day. "Jasper was saying stupid things to him and being such a jerk that day."

I winced wondering if that thought would lead her to the reason for this chat. Her hair was blowing gently around her face and I wanted to reach out and tuck it back behind her ears so that it didn't disrupt my view of her. I smiled and folded my hands tightly in my lap instead.

"The week after that, Jasper made me come with him to apologize to you both in case you tried to hit him or something. You told him that as long as he didn't say anything else mean to your brother that you'd let us be friends with you and Em. That was the week they divided everyone up into groups. We all begged and begged the poor kid in charge of distributing jerseys to give us all the same colored jerseys. She finally just gave in and handed them over. I'm pretty sure she caught a lot of crap for letting a bunch of five year olds bribe her with pouting faces and puppy-dog eyes."

Bella's giggle made the ache in my heart loosen up a tiny bit. I hoped she would let me get this next part out uninterrupted. Otherwise, I didn't think I'd be able to finish. I'd take any excuse to stop before having to watch her remember my idiocy.

"The four of us ruled that rink. We kicked ass at the drills. We dominated in the shinny games because we all stuck together. It was awesome. The next year, when we started house league, Jasper and I were on the same team. We were really disappointed to find out that you and Emmett were on a different team. We'd still run into you occasionally at the rinks. We'd say hello before or after a game when we played each other, maybe get a few minutes to kick a tennis ball around in the hallway between games."

I couldn't bear to be so close to her as I approached the part of the story necessitating my apology. I stood up from the swing, walked a few steps over to the railing, and continued to talk while I looked out toward the street.

"The next year, Jasper and I were really disappointed that we weren't on the same team. I was so happy to have made the 7A Selects team, but bummed that my cousin and best friend didn't make it. I was moping around the day of the first team meeting. Actually, I was being a little brat. I moaned about not wanting to play if I couldn't have Jazz with me. I actually told my Dad that I wanted to go back to house league."

I turned around and faced Bella, leaning my back against the railing and folding my arms across my chest.

"Imagine my surprise when I get to the arena and see little Miss Izzy sitting and talking with the guys from the team. I was so happy to see you that I ran right over to you completely interrupting your talk and high-fived you. Your face lit up like a Christmas tree. I still remember the sparkle in your eyes. You told me that you'd been worried that you wouldn't know anyone on the team since Emmett had been sick during tryouts and didn't make the team."

I wanted so desperately to turn back away from her but I knew I deserved, no, needed to see her expression when I got to the not-so-happy parts.

"You and I were such a great team. We were so in sync. We always seemed to be aware of each other's position on the ice. We fed off each other so well that we led the team in points." I paused and took another deep breath, holding it a moment before blowing it out. "I was always told how I was a natural at this game, that I was made for hockey. It was in my blood. I got so much praise from such a young age that I believed my own hype. I was a seven year old with a big frigging ego."

Bella's eyes began to squint ever so slightly. She began to bite the lower corner of her lip. I could tell that she was starting to put together where I was going with this, so I pushed on quickly.

"Suddenly I felt like the spotlight wasn't just on me anymore. I didn't like it. After a few more games, you were beating me in points and even getting longer shifts. The coaches always downplayed things like the scores of the games and the lengths of shifts. After all, the motto of the league was still "fair and equal play" for all players, but kids aren't as oblivious as the adults sometimes think. We notice who scores the goals, who gets out on the ice in the power play situations, and near the end of the third period when the games are close. I was jealous that you were getting what I thought belonged to me. I was sure they were just being nice to you, so I started saying things to you, taking little digs here and there. Little by little, you seemed to be getting less and less time on the ice, making fewer points. I thought I'd finally broken through and my skills were finally by-passing yours. Then one day I asked the coach to be put out for an important shift. When he called for you instead, even after you'd barely been putting in any effort the entire game, I just lost it. I said some of the most dishonest, meanest things to you. You put me in my place and I'll never forget the fire in your eyes while you punched me, telling me exactly what you thought of me. You told me off in front of the whole team."

As I had been speaking, I tried desperately not to focus on Bella's eyes as the tears collected along her lashes. They hadn't fallen yet, but I was sure they would soon.

"I was such a little shit. Such a jackass. Why didn't you just finish what you started and beat me up? You should have made me shut up. Why did you listen to me, Bella? I was wrong. I was SO wrong." I wiped at my own eyes to make sure I wasn't going to make an even bigger idiot of myself. "I'm such an ass that I didn't even realize it was YOU until Emmett mentioned it to me. We'd ALL always called you Izzy. Emmett doesn't call you that any more, neither do your parents. I had completely forgotten about the little girl named Izzy who was twice the player I'd ever been. I didn't mean to hurt you so much, Bella. Please believe me! I was just a stupid, jealous kid. How could you let me wreck something you loved so much? How could you let me drive you away from the game? I'm sorry, Bella. I'm so sorry."

The tears were running down her face now and I watched apprehensively as she wiped them away with the back of her hand. Her eyes were pained and she stared at her knee.

BELLA

My thoughts were all jumbled up and I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. Edward had brought all of the pain and frustration that I thought I'd buried right back up to the surface. I struggled to keep the sobs burning their way up my trachea contained. I refused to break down any further in front of him. As it was, I couldn't stop the tears that were running down my cheeks in big fat rivers. I would not allow myself to fall apart in front of him.

I chanced a quick peek at Edward and was shocked by the depth of the sorrow I could see in his eyes. It took my breath away. I needed to get away from him. I couldn't be here any more. I needed to get up. I needed to hide. I needed to be any where but here.

"Apology accepted. Thank you."

I jumped up from my spot on the swing and charged toward the front door. I hadn't even made it five feet before I felt his hand wrap around my bicep, halting my forward momentum.

"Bella, no. You can't just… I need to know why. Why did you listen to me? I was stupid and jealous and… stupid."

I tried weakly to shake his hand off, but he didn't let up on his grip on my arm.

I put my hands over my eyes for a moment and tried to will myself to calm down. I couldn't stop my traitorous body from shaking with the force of the emotional outburst I was desperately trying to quash.

I could feel the heat from his body as he shifted closer to me and wrapped his other arm around my shoulders turning me so that he could wrap his arms around me and pull my head to his shoulder. I froze in his arms, my back stiffening in response to his closeness.

"I'm so sorry, Bella. Izzy. I just… Why?"

He sounded so lost. I huffed a breath out my nose and tried my best to explain it to him.

"I don't really know how to explain it. That first day of hockey school, I was terrified. I'd taken skating lessons because Emmett wanted to take skating lessons, just like Emmett had to take introduction to gymnastics because I wanted to take it. With Mom and Garrett's schedules, any activities that we registered for had to be for both of us. It was hard enough working around getting us to one event weekly; forget trying to fit in two separate activities on different days."

As I spoke, my body relaxed into his. I smiled when I felt his head jerk up and back a bit when I mentioned Emmett taking gymnastics. I'm sure I'd be hearing about that later once Edward had a chance to rib him about it. I realized that I could feel that familiar pull that always seemed present when we were in close proximity to each other. I felt comfortable in his arms. I immediately dismissed any similar thoughts. He was comforting me out of a sense of guilt. Once he realized that I didn't hold a grudge anymore (well, not too much anyway), he'd move on and once again forget about the little girl whose heart had been broken by her friend.

"Emmett was determined to be the next Gretzky. He believed it with his whole heart. I gave up on gymnastics when it became painfully obvious to everyone that I was NOT cut out for that sport. Two sprained ankles and a strained tendon in my knee as well as many, many unfortunate tumbling incidents proved the point. We had tried soccer and Emmett had talked me into trying Tae Kwon Do. I was completely useless, but that day when we got out on the ice and I glided effortlessly over to where the instructors were waiting I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Emmett was the one having difficulty keeping up. I didn't feel superior or anything like that. I was just happy that I wasn't the one lying on my ass with kids laughing at ME."

I pushed Edward's chest a bit so that he had to loosen his arms and take a step back. I took a hold of one of his hands when I noticed his head drop and his shoulders slump when I stepped out of his embrace. I kept a hold of his hand as I stepped back over to the swing and pulled him down gently beside me. Leaning my body against his side, I rested my head on his shoulder as I continued.

"I was a little girl who lived for playing hockey. None of the girls in my class understood. They were all playing soccer, taking gymnastics or dance classes. Emmett supported me, but he's my brother. He HAS to be nice to me, but you and Jasper, you didn't care that I was a girl. You just saw me as another player. I'd finally found something I was good at, somewhere I fit in seamlessly."

My fingers found their way to the cuff of his shirt and I picked at the loose threads there. Goosebumps rose on the flesh under my fingers and I wondered if he was cold.

"I'd started thinking of you guys like family. I'm like that, I kind of… adopt people, but it was more than that. When I made the 7A Selects and Emmett didn't, I was panicked. I almost begged Mom and Garrett to let me back out. I walked in to that team meeting with a fake smile plastered on my face after being bribed with any dinner and dessert of my choice to just "go and see." You wouldn't believe how much energy it took to try and talk to the guys in that room. I wanted to run away and hide, and then suddenly, everything was okay. You came running up to me and I could breathe again."

I tilted my head up to see his face and caught the tail end of the soft smile before it slid off his face. His back stiffened as I sat up straighter.

"We were doing so well, having so much FUN. Then things started to change. You stopped sitting near me in the change room. You started scowling at me when you bothered to speak to me. You started ignoring me."

I shuffled forward, clasping my hands in my lap and moved away from him a bit. The more memories I voiced, the angrier I became.

"Then that last month you were just so mean. Anything you could say to tear me down, to shake my confidence, to throw me off my game. I was so lost. I tried asking you what was going on." I snorted and nearly choked on the tears of frustration dripping back into my sinuses.

"Then when you said…what you did, it just…broke something. I felt the snap in the center of my chest. I was so mad at you at first. I just wanted to lash out and rip your head off. Then it sunk in. You never saw me as an equal. You broke my heart. You were never my friend."

"NO! No, that's not true!" He reached out for my hand but I moved quickly out of his reach and began moving towards the door again. I was at the end of my control and needed to get away from Edward. I could feel him moving towards me as I spoke so I sped up my words and my movements reaching the doorway just as I finished speaking. "It's fine, Edward, I'm over it. I was a silly kid who read more into your friendship than was actually there. It hurt me, but I'm fine. We're fine. You can let it go now. I'll see you around." The sobs began to rip through my body as I ran up the stairs to my room.

"Bella, NO. That's not true. I'm sorry. I'm so…"

"I WARNED you to leave it alone, but you couldn't do it." I dropped to the ground sitting on the top step and I clamped my hands over my mouth as I heard the barely contained fury Emmett was aiming straight at Ed. "Leave, Edward. NOW. Before I do something we'll both regret."

I could only see Emmett's back and the arm he was holding on to the door with. His hand was gripping the door so hard it looked like he was about to rip a chunk out of it.

Edward wisely stopped talking and backed away from the door, which was immediately slammed closed. Emmett turned around and his eyes locked with mine. "Birdy, I'm so sorry. I tried to tell him…"

I shook my head frantically and scrambled off the floor and into my room. I locked the door and burrowed under my blankets searching for comfort.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** I won't make excuses. I suck. Sorry. Thanks to ACullenWannabe for her consistent encouragement and assistance. Note to Ms. KS (not the one the rest of you are thinking of...), if you don't review soon, I will NOT believe you're reading this! Cheers, MissSherrie

**CHAPTER 8:**

EMMETT

I'd been standing just inside the window listening to Edward try and spit out the lamest excuse for an apology I'd ever heard. I'd managed to physically retrain myself from charging out the door when I started to hear the telltale signs that Bella was about to lose it, but when her voice began to crack and she launched herself through the front door after trying to let the shit head off easy, I couldn't take it any more. I sprinted to the front door and blocked him from entering the house.

"I WARNED you to leave it alone, but you couldn't do it."

I heard shuffling at the top of the stairs and was certain that my distraught sister had stopped to watch and hear what I was going to say or do. I breathed deeply to try and keep my temper in check.

"Leave, Edward. NOW. Before I do something we'll both regret."

I glared at him as he tried to look around me for a glimpse of her. If he didn't leave soon I would not be held responsible for what I'd do to him. Instead, I clutched to door harder.

Once Ed backed away from the door, I slammed it closed, barely remembering that I didn't want to rip it right off the hinges. I stepped back into the hallway and looked up to the top of the staircase.

"Birdy, I'm so sorry. I tried to tell him…"

She scrambled off the floor shaking her head as if to ward off my words and ran into her room. I scaled the stairs two at a time and heard the sound of her lock as it clicked into place.

I reached the door and knocked lightly. "Lil' Bird, please don't shut me out. I know you don't want to talk about it, and that's fine. Please, just let me in. Please?"

I could hear sniffles from inside. I didn't know what I could do to help, but I just wanted to be doing _something_. I slid down to sit on the floor with my back against the door.

"Ok Bells, I won't push, but I'm not going anywhere. I'll sit here and whine at you until you let me in." I smiled slightly as I heard her dissatisfied grunt.

Renee appeared on the stairs and gave me a questioning look. I shrugged my shoulders at her. She came to the door and tapped lightly. "Sweetheart? Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. I'm fine. Just give me a little bit, okay?" The bravery she tried to portray with her voice nearly broke my resolve. I really, really wanted to make a trip over to the Masen's house and show Eddie boy _exactly_ what I thought of him right about now.

"Ok, baby. I'm just downstairs if you need me." Renee rubbed my hair affectionately and headed back downstairs.

I sat silently listening as the nose-blowing and sniffles slowed and then stopped. I must have been sitting on the floor for half and hour and needed to shift my position since my butt had long since fallen asleep. As soon as I leaned to the side, I let go of some gas.

"UGH! Really, Em? Chemical warfare?" I couldn't help but to start snickering as I heard Bella's laughter.

"You know it little sister. If you don't open this door and let me in, I'm going to flood your room with disgusting odors."

I heard the squeak of the bedsprings as she moved off the bed followed by shuffling footsteps and the snick of the lock being opened. I braced myself and artfully dropped onto my back as the door opened.

"You're such a goofball." Bella looked down at me and rolled her eyes.

"You know you love me." I hauled myself off the floor and flopped down onto Bella's bed.

"Wanna watch a movie with me?" I didn't really have any interest in watching anything right now, but I'd be more than happy to keep her company. I watched as she rummaged through the selection of DVDs on her bookshelves and loaded one into the player. She sat down on the bed and threw her pillow down on the foot of the bed, lying on her tummy and poking me in the side with her foot. "Thanks, Em."

"That's what I'm here for, Tweety." I reached over and tickled her foot causing her to kick out at me wildly.

~*ATR*~

EDWARD

After what felt like the longest walk home _ever_, I threw myself onto the couch in the family room and stared blindly at the TV. I didn't have the slightest idea what was on because I wasn't paying any attention at all. My mind just kept replaying the pain that had been written across Bella's face. Everyone had told me to just let it be, that she had obviously forgotten it or gotten over it. That was obviously not the case. She'd just buried it, and of course, being the shit I am, I couldn't just listen. Nope, not me. I'd HAD to drag it all back to the surface.

I dimly registered the ringing of the phone and my mother's murmurs from the kitchen. I looked up when I realized she was standing beside me.

"Oh, babe. You've really done it now, huh?"

I grimaced and scrubbed my palms over my face. "I guess Renee called?"

"Yep, apparently Bella locked herself in her room for a while and wouldn't let anyone in."

My heart took another dive into my gut. "Oh, crap. Perfect. When Emmett kills me, just give him my video games as a thank you for putting me out of my misery."

Reaching down and running her hands through my hair like she used to do when I was little because I found it comforting, she chuckled at me. "I'll keep that in mind. She finally let Emmett in, and they've been watching movies."

I nodded at her and closed my eyes. The only thought that ran through my mind on a continuous loop was a simple one. What do I do now?

I stewed over that question for the next few weeks before school started. I saw Emmett and his Dad at land training, but stayed as far away from them both as possible. I declined any invitations for team functions that would involve interacting with any of the McCarty/Swan family. The last thing I needed was to open my big, fat mouth and insert my foot.

~*AtR*~

On the first day of high school, I tried my best to pay attention to each teacher as they explained each course and handed out the materials we would need. It turned out that Bella was in my homeroom. I spent most of that period studiously examining my finger nails. Emmett was in my next class and I passed that period feeling the heat of his glare on my back. During lunch, I managed to grab a dried out burger and a Coke and smuggle them out to the side of the school to eat in peace. My next class had Jasper in it, and thankfully, he was at least speaking civilly to me so I could pay some attention there. For the final class of the day, both Alice and Rosalie snuck sidelong glances at me and gave each other meaningful looks.

By the end of the day, I was exhausted from the stress alone. How on earth was I going to be able to make it through an entire semester this way? As soon as the final bell rang, I was out of my seat and striding towards the exit. I hit the first set of double doors with my shoulder and the door opened quickly before it halted abruptly as I heard the telltale thud.

"No. Please, God, if you love me at all…"

I pushed the door open slowly this time to find Bella sprawled on the floor, books and papers spread out around her. I moved quickly to her side and put my hand on the side of her head. A sizeable knot was already beginning to rise on her forehead.

"Shit, Bella. I'm so sorry." I pulled her hand to help her into a sitting position before moving swiftly to collect her fallen items as the hallway began to fill with students. I turned to find Bella leaning awkwardly against the wall. Her eyes didn't appear to be focusing and she kept blinking her eyes.

"DAMN IT, ED! WHAT DID YOU DO?"

I flinched and physically recoiled from Emmett as he approached at full speed. People cleared out of his way as he barreled down the staircase towards us.

"I didn't know she was there, I was just…"

"SHUT. UP." He shoved me out of the way, hard. I lost my balance and careened head-first into the wall beside me.

"EMMETT! Jesus! It was an accident." I heard Bella's weak protests as my knees turned to Jello beneath me and I crumpled to the floor.

"Ah, SHIT." Emmett's hands were immediately on my shoulders pulling me up off the floor. He kept a tight grip on my jacket at my left shoulder while his other hand let go of me and reached out to steady Bella who had been trying to lean down towards me. She was obviously still very unsteady.

"Bella! Bella? Are you okay?" Alice and Rose appeared apparently out of nowhere and fussed over her.

"You two, got her?" Emmett gently passed her off to her friends and glared at me while running his now freed hand through his hair roughly.

"Everything okay here?" A tall, skinny kid with long black hair stopped and eyed the group of us.

"Uh, I'm not really sure." Emmett looked from the kid, to Bella, then to me and his frown deepened.

Rosalie rolled her eyes and turned to face him. "I'm Rose, and you are…?"

He smirked and eyed Rose's body. "Aro".

"Arrow? Ok. Whatever. Do you drive? Our _friends_…", she practically snarled the word in my direction, "have both smacked their heads and I think we need to take them to a doctor. Can you drive us over to the walk in clinic up the street?"

"Well, yeah, but I only have a small car. I can't take all of you."

"Fine, Emmett, you go with them. You're going to have to call home and tell them anyway. You can call Edward's parents too."

~*AtR*~

After cramming ourselves into Aro's Mini and spending a relatively short time in the waiting room avoiding Emmett's glares, we finally were led into separate exam areas. Bella was lead away first, and then the nurse came to show me to a closet-sized exam room. Emmett stayed in the waiting room to be available to explain when our parents arrived.

After waiting for what seemed like forever, the doctor finally examined me and then left me to speak with my parents after suggesting that I may have a mild concussion. Heading out to the reception area, I saw Bella sitting in the plastic waiting room chairs cuddled into her mom.

My mom immediately rushed over to me and wrapped me in her arms. "Edward! Oh my goodness, sweetie. I talked to the doctor. What happened? Emmett said you had an accident at school with Bella?"

I looked over to see him leaning against the wall over by the exit wincing. I could tell that he was waiting for me to rat on him. To tell my parents and his that he'd shoved me into the wall.

"Yeah, um, I accidentally knocked Bella down with a door, then I must have slipped when I was trying to help her up and pick up her stuff."

Emmett's head snapped up and his expression was grateful.

"What? That's…"

"Yeah, I'm really sorry, Bella. I should have been much more careful when bursting through those doors. I'm lucky you're not seriously hurt, and I only got a bonk on the head. It could have been MUCH worse. I deserved worse." I kept my eyes locked with hers when I cut her off as her head popped up and she started to contradict me. She scowled at me but didn't argue any further. Her glance in Emmett's direction was decidedly cold and I was instantly glad it wasn't directed at me.

My attention flickered back and forth between Bella and Emmett as our parents lobbied ideas back and forth, finally deciding that it made sense for me to stay over at the McCarty/Swan residence since Dad was working overnight and Mom wasn't entirely comfortable with being left alone with me. Garrett practically insisted on it since they'd have to do the same two-hour wake up rotation with Bella anyway, and due to his coaching and trainer's courses, he was up-to-date on all of his first aid courses.

I knew if Mom stayed with me she'd get no sleep. Even going home the chances of her resting were slim, but at least she'd be in her own home and would have a better chance at getting some sleep. I knew she felt bad and told me she didn't want me to think she was "handing me off." I told her not to worry, to go home and get some rest. I felt fine, with just a mild headache. I trusted Garrett to look after me.

After much convincing on my part and Renee's, she headed home and Garrett and Emmett set about blowing up an air mattress and making it up with sheets and blankets for me to camp out in Emmett's room.

It was well past dinner time when our thoughts turned to food. I really didn't have much of an appetite and only picked at the spaghetti with meat sauce that Renee whipped up for us. Bella barely ate anything at all.

After dinner, Emmett, Bella, and I went downstairs to watch some TV. Bella's expression continued to become more pinched as the evening wore on. When I caught her rubbing the back of her neck for the third or fourth time, I nudged Emmett to get his attention. Inclining my head in a way that I hoped wasn't too obvious, I muttered, "My head is still throbbing. I think it's time for me to call it a night."

"Ooh. Um, yeah. That's probably a good idea. Bella, how about you? Ready to call it a night?" Emmett had looked at me questioningly at first, but caught on as I spoke. Thankfully, he took the hint and tried to subtly prod Bella to head up to bed to get some rest.

"Yeah, I think that sounds like a good idea." She stood and headed up the stairs, with Emmett trailing behind her and me bringing up the rear.

When we reached the top of the stairs, Bella turned to me and bid me goodnight in a voice so soft I barely heard it. She grasped Emmett's wrist and stopped him. I headed into Emmett's room and grabbed a pair of sleep pants from where he'd left them out for me. Leaning over to close the door, I smiled as I overhead Bella giving Emmett crap for not owning up to shoving me into the wall. I knew it was only a matter of time before she called him out on it.

I knelt down on the air mattress and pulled the top sheet and comforter back to crawl in when Emmett opened the door and scowled at me.

"What are you doing, man?"

"Going to sleep?" I didn't mean it to come out as a question, but he'd caught me off guard.

"Yeah, but I'm sleeping there. You're taking the bed." He motioned over his shoulder towards the bed with his thumb.

"I'm fine here, Emmett."

He huffed out a frustrated breath. "Dude. Just… please. It's the least I can do, okay?"

I nodded at him and shuffled over to the bed, getting under the covers. I stared at the ceiling as Emmett shuffled about the room getting changed and situating himself on the air mattress. The quiet of the house at night settled around us. I shifted to my side to get a bit more comfortable, leaving my back towards Emmett. Soon my thoughts slowed and I felt like I was on the edge of dropping off to sleep when Emmett's voice roused me.

"Ed?"

I cleared my throat before answering, "Yeah, Em?"

"I appreciate you not ratting me out. As Bella informed me, loudly, and rather snappily, I didn't deserve it."

I didn't hold any hard feelings over it. He was protective of her, and I'd already proven that I was more than capable of causing her harm. "It's fine, man. I know you were just looking out for her. It was an accident though. I didn't know she was there."

"Yeah, that's what she said."

"You know I wouldn't do anything like that, right? I wouldn't hurt her on purpose."

I heard him take a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "Yeah, I know."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: We all know the drill - - I own the original ideas, plot, etc. Ms. Meyer owns the names. Yadda, yadda.**

**Sweets - you're full of it. You are not reading this... ;p ACullenWannabe, my eternal thanks for your patience with my tense trouble and continued insistence on misusing certain words to begin sentences.**

**I'd get down on my knees and grovel in apology for this late update, but I can't even pretend that I won't do it again. Your patience is a cherished gift.**

**CHAPTER 9:**

BELLA

Being purposely woken up every couple of hours when all I wanted to do was get some sleep and forget about the prior day, really blew. By the time morning rolled around and it was time to get up and get ready for school, I was more exhausted than I ever remembered feeling in my entire life. My alarm clock had gone off at least five times that I could remember. The snooze button had become my best friend.

"Bella, you need to get up NOW." The tone of Mom's voice left absolutely no room for argument. I'd already heard the water running and Em and Ed muttering as they traveled up and down the hall to have showers. Thank god we had a tankless water heater. Otherwise, I'd be bathing using some decidedly cold water.

I grabbed myself an over-sized fluffy bath sheet. Mom's preference for big, fluffy towels was one of my favorite of her quirks.

I brushed the knots out of my hair while I waited for the water to hit the right temperature. Once I stepped under the spray, I let the water run over my head and down my back. The spray stung the impact points on my head, but the warmth was much more soothing than painful.

I was startled by several loud thumps on the bathroom door. "Bella-rella, breakfast is ready. If you want to stuff some food in your face before we leave, you better hurry up!"

Emmett's loud voice pierced my brain. My head was still feeling sore, but it was livable as long as the loud noises were kept to a minimum. I hurried through my shower routine to try and make it downstairs before the guys inhale all of the food. I wrapped myself in my towel and quickly ran a wide-toothed comb through my hair.

As I stepped out of the bathroom, I decided to grab a second smaller towel to wrap around my hair. I stretched up on my tip-toes to reach the higher shelf where the smaller towels were kept. I pulled myself up a bit higher by grasping the shelf with my left hand while the fingers of my right hand closed around the towel on top of the pile. Just as I began to pull the towel down, I felt the towel wrapped around my chest loosen and start to slip. I let go of the shelf and grabbed at the towel. The terrycloth slipped under my hand and dipped down to my waist. I clumsily yanked the towel back up before it managed to fall too far below my butt. I shook my head at my continued klutzy tendencies and turned to go back to my room to throw on some clothes.

Just my luck, Edward was standing in the doorway to Emmett's room with his bag over his shoulder, slack-jawed. I felt the immediate burn of the blood rushing to the surface of my cheeks, down my neck and across my chest. I sprinted down the hallway into my room and slammed the door. "You have GOT to be kidding me!" I spat. Well, if I'm lucky he saw my back. If I'm not lucky, he saw my ass. If I'm God's personal entertainment channel, he got a good look at my still barely developed chest. I wrapped the hard won towel around my hair and threw myself onto my bed, burrowed back into my blankets and prayed for the bed to swallow me whole.

I'd wallowed in my embarrassment for less than five minutes when my bedroom door became a percussion instrument under Emmett's fists. "Birdy! Come ON, we've gotta get going. If I have to come in there, I have parental permission for tickle torture. You know you don't want it to come to that!"

"Aaarrgghh! Fine Em, I'm coming. Do me a favor? Just toss a couple of everything in a container for me? I'll eat on the way."

There was no way I was going to be able to force a single bite down my throat, but if I didn't at least make it look like I was going to eat something, Garret would have me back in a doctor's office in a flash.

I threw on my undies, a pair of my baggier jeans, a plain cotton bra, a loose t-shirt and a sweatshirt that used to belong to Em before his latest growth spurt. It was quite large on me, but after this morning I felt like I needed to wear as many bulky layers as possible.

I rushed down the stairs, stuffed my feet into my sneakers, grabbed my backpack off the floor, and tried to dash out the door before accidentally making eye contact with anyone. I was certain if any of them got a good look at my face, they'd be sure to know something was up. I couldn't face the possibility of any questions. I needed to get out of here as soon as possible.

"Bella?"

Of course, there was no way this could go my way…

"Yeah, Mom?" I turned and locked my eyes on hers. I couldn't chance looking around to see if there was anyone else in the vicinity.

"How is your head feeling? Did you take any medicine? I don't want you suffering in silence, baby girl. If you need some medication, you take it. Do you hear me?"

"Yeah, Mom. It's okay. A bit sore, but nothing I can't handle." I heard the door open behind me and my shoulders crept towards my ears as I speculated about who was behind me.

"There you are! Come on, if you're coming we've got to go now. We're cutting it very close already." Garrett's booming voice makes me scrunch up my face in discomfort.

"Bella, if you're not feeling up to it, perhaps you should stay home today?" The concern in her voice was comforting, but it also meant that she'd just spend the whole day hovering over me.

"No, I'm okay. Just not so great with, you know, the loud…"

"Oh sh… I mean… Sorry, Bells. I'll tone it down a bit." His sheepish expression makes me smile. I patted his shoulder as I walked past him out the door and down to the car.

The ride to school was silent other than the background sounds of Garrett's favorite top 40 station. Emmett scowled at me when we exited the car noticing that I hadn't touched the food he'd passed me as I had gotten in, but he kept his opinions to himself. I turned away quickly and headed in the opposite direction from the boys since my first class was thankfully at the other side of the school. If I could manage to avoid Edward for the rest of the day, that would be perfect.

I had barely stepped a foot in the door before I was attacked by a pissed off blonde and a raven-haired Tazmanian Devil.

"Oh, my, GOD. Are you okay? That's one heck of a bruise on your forehead. Does it hurt? Do you have a headache? Did you sleep okay? I bet you could use a softer pillow, want me to bring over one? Can I get you anything? Are you dizzy? Bella?"

"ALICE! Enough! Holy cow." Rose glared at her while physically removing her from my personal space.

"Sorry, sorry! I just… You scared the crap out of me yesterday. I just want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine, Al. I have a bit of a headache, but mostly just when I move my head too fast or when it's really loud. I'm good."

She arched one perfect eyebrow at me quizzically. She wasn't buying it.

"Really. I'm okay. Just minor damage. I promise."

We headed down the hallway and went about our day as usual. I had just entered my homeroom when the flash of cinnamon-colored hair in my periphery caused the breath to catch in my throat. How had I managed to completely forget that Edward was in my class? Great. At least he wasn't in my line of sight when I slouched down into my seat. This was going to be a long period. I imagined I could feel Edward's eyes roaming all over me the entire class. I shifted uncomfortably, this morning's disaster replaying over and over in my mind's eye. I had no idea how much he'd seen, but even the bare minimum was still way too much. As soon as the bell rang to end the class, I launched myself from my chair and sprinted down the hallways to my next class.

I made it without further humiliation to lunch period and found Alice and Rose at our usual table. My back was to the door, but I knew the moment Edward walked in because Rose's lovely face turned into a mask of fury. She went to stand and I quickly put my foot on her thigh preventing her from doing so. Her angry glare flashed in my direction before being replaced by a curious frown. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough to stop Alice who had spun around in her seat to my left and darted out of her chair before I managed to grab her wrist.

"No, Rose. Stay here." I tried my best commanding tone and then jogged over to where Alice was already poking Edward in the chest and giving her a piece of her mind.

"What the hell is wrong with you anyway? Why would you do something like that? Do you have a death wish? You're lucky Emmett didn't kill you. In fact, I'm considering finishing off the job for him. You're such an a…."

"MARY ALICE!" I spat, "That's enough!"

"But, Bella, he…"

"NO, Alice. Enough. It was an accident. Edward would never hurt anyone on purpose…" I realized as the words came out of my mouth, that I wasn't unsure of their truth. Even with the crap that had happened years ago, I just couldn't find it in my heart to believe that he would have done anything to intentionally hurt me. Sure, he had, but I didn't think it had been intentional. He was a kid. He threw a tantrum. Unfortunately, I had been on the receiving end. It didn't mean it didn't hurt like hell. I was a kid too, and I took it to heart, but years of time passing had lessened the hurt.

Having him bring it all back up had been like ripping a band-aid off a wound where the scab had attached to the bandage. It hurt like a bitch at first, but then it returned to a dull throb and eventually sealed over.

As Alice stomped away, I took a quick look at Edward who hadn't even bothered to try and defend himself. His eyes were glued to a spot on the floor and he looked like someone had kicked his puppy.

"I'm sorry about them." I motioned weakly to encompass Alice and Rose who was still shooting glares from across the room. "I'll get them to stop." He tried to force a smile but it flitted across his face all skewed and not at all natural-looking.

"It's fine. They're just looking out for you." He looked over to Alice and held her narrowed gaze. "Honestly, Alice. I'd never purposely bash Bella with a door. I thought you knew me better than that. Guess I was wrong." His gaze dropped back to the floor and he turned to walk over to the table where Emmett and Jasper were watching the whole scene unfold with twin expressions of disbelief.

"Edward." I reached out and grabbed his hand as he turned away. I enjoyed the warmth of his touch when he stopped moving, but didn't look back at me. "I know it was an accident. I know you wouldn't do something like that."

He nodded but still didn't move to look back at me. I realized that I was still holding his hand so that he wasn't able to move away without pulling out of my grasp. I slowly released my grip and he walked away.

I turned and grabbed Alice roughly by the arm and half dragged her back to the table. I stood with my hands on my hips and shook my head at the two mama bears looking up at me. "Okay. I get it. You're trying to… defend my honour or… something. Just… don't. It was an accident. I know you guys are still ticked about the other stuff, but just, please, for me, let it go. I just want to move forward with my life. Okay?"

The both looked at me like I had a screw loose, then back at each other before shrugging and nodding their heads.

*~AtR~*

EDWARD

The slamming of her bedroom door brought me out of my Bella-induced haze. I stood in the doorway while the images repeated in my mind… Bella reaching high into the cabinet while the towel that wrapped around her clung to body and showed off the creamy softness of her shoulders. The towel slipping down her body before she could catch it revealing her back and slender waist, dropping just below the dimples in her lower back before she managed to catch it and pull it back into place.

My heart was beating fast and I could practically hear the blood rushing through my brain. I couldn't stop my imagination from taking over and expanding on the glimpses of her skin that I'd been granted. If I'd been a bit further down the hall, or at the top of the staircase, I'd have had a fuller view of her body. I coughed in surprise as it sunk in that I was VERY interested in getting a better view.

I could NOT be thinking of Bella as anything other than my friend's sister. Hell, after everything else, if I even THOUGHT of Bella in any way other than as a friend, Emmett would be likely to beat me to within an inch of my life! I shook my head violently in a useless attempt to dislodge the images from the forefront of my thoughts before heading downstairs.

I scampered down the stairs and back into the kitchen. I tossed my bag into the corner, slouched back down into my chair, and shoveled food into my mouth in an attempt to distract my brain. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work.

A little while later, Renee sent Emmett back up to drag Bella down to the table by any force necessary. I shuddered a little knowing only too well that Emmett could be very creative when it came to inventive torture techniques.

He returned rather quickly and rummaged through the cupboards to find a container before shoveling bits and pieces of all of the breakfast foods Renee had prepared into it. I quirked an eyebrow at him in question.

"I don't know. I guess she's running late or something. She asked me to get some food together for her to take with her."

I muttered, "Whatever gets us out of here faster."

"Exactly," he nodded and snapped the lid into place.

I stuffed the last of what was on my plate into my mouth and quickly rinsed my plate before placing it in the dishwasher. I grabbed my bag and told Emmett I was going to go wait in the car. I felt an irrational need to avoid Bella. I didn't want my mouth to betray me and make a stupid comment about what I'd seen.

When we arrived at the school, I was startled by how quickly Bella launched herself from the car.

"Oh, yeah, uh, see ya…" Garrett watched her rapidly retreating form with a perplexed expression for a moment before bringing his attention back to Emmett and me as we climbed out. "Em, you keep an eye out for Birdy, and Eddie here. If they start acting off, you call us or his parents right away. Okay?"

Emmett rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly, "Yeah, yeah. I got it. Babysit the walking wounded. I'm all over it."

Emmett and I parted ways as we headed towards our respective classes. When I reached the room, I quickly scanned the seats and found that Bella hadn't yet arrived. I dropped into the same seat I'd occupied the day before and watched the doorway for her arrival. As soon as she entered the room, her posture changed drastically. Her shoulders hunched over and she sunk down into her chair so low I could barely see the top of her head over the shoulders of our classmates surrounding her. As the class wore on, she shuffled more and more in her seat. I was growing concerned that perhaps she was suffering some after-effects of yesterday's incident. I was about to raise my hand and bring the teacher's attention to Bella's distress when the bell rang signaling the end of the class. Bella immediately popped up from her seat and charged out of the room.

At lunch time, I had barely entered the cafeteria when I was confronted with one seriously pissed-off looking tiny person. Alice rushed at me and poked me repeatedly in the chest while hissing at me.

Bella's angry voice rang out from behind her, basically telling her to back off, but she wasn't apparently willing to listen.

After being told in no uncertain terms that she needed to drop it, the tiny tempest retreated. I could not believe that Alice thought I would purposely try and hurt Bella. Okay, so I didn't have the best track record in her eyes, but I'd spent a bit of time around Alice over the past little while and I thought she knew me a little better than that. I glanced across the room and saw that even though Rosalie had managed to restrain herself from physically or verbally attacking me, if she'd had the power to bump me off with her glare alone, I'd be six feet under.

Bella tried to apologize to me on her friends' behalves. She sounded almost embarrassed. I was still trying to wrap my head around how this sweet girl kept finding it in her heart to forgive me, to stick up for me even. I felt like laughing and crying at the same time.

"It's fine. They're just looking out for you." I tried to put on a brave face and walk away with what was left of my dignity intact, but I still could not believe Alice thought so poorly of me and I told her so. I turned to head over to the table where my friends were sitting. I'd suddenly lost any appetite I may have had.

I heard her call my name and felt her small hand grasp mine. I closed my eyes and tried to memorize the way my body relaxed at the simple touch of her fingers against my own. She softly assured me that she knew I hadn't tried to hurt her on purpose. I was glad that someone believed me, and in the grand scheme of things, her opinion was really the only one that mattered.

I nodded my head slightly, grateful for the confirmation that she at least believed in me that small bit. I couldn't turn back to face her. I was barely holding myself together as it was. I didn't need to break down in front of the entire school. I needed a few minutes to collect my thoughts. I'd obviously not gotten enough rest last night and my control over my emotions was stretched to the limit. I should have moved away, but she was still gently grasping my hand and I wasn't sure why, but I knew I didn't want to be the one to break the contact. As her hand slowly slipped from mine, I walked away.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** See previous Disclaimers. Enough flogging the horse. As always, my undying gratitude to ACullenWannabe for speedy beta skills and making sure I don't embarass myself too much.

**CHAPTER 10:**

EDWARD

The school year crept along and the new hockey season began. We were pleased that we managed to keep a lot of the same players from last year's team. Because our Dads were on the bench, Em, Jaz and I were protected and remained on the same team. Uncle Carlisle managed to scoop a couple of top notch players from two of the other teams. After a handful of practices, we were finding our rhythm and the team was starting to come together.

I made a point to go to as many of Bella's games as possible with Emmett. We'd drawn a few exasperated sighs from Renee and a whole lot of glares from Bella when we were in the stands. Emmett was just naturally loud, and I was trying to be extra supportive to make up for my previous behavior. We might have been just a bit overzealous.

The three of us spent a lot of time over at Em and Bella's place. A lot of times, other guys joined us from the team, or from school. A lot of the time Alice and Rose came around, often their friends and team mates hung out with us too.

Alice and Rose had been much better with me lately. At first, I'd still received the glares and cold shoulders, but after Bella constantly berated them and apologized to me profusely on their behalves, they finally let it go.

Sometimes we'd just watch TV or movies. Bella preferred competitive games. She could even make a simple game of cards extremely competitive. That girl loved to win, and most of the time, she did. I suspected that Emmett often let her win just to keep peace in the family.

When we had video game tournaments, it often came down to Emmett, Bella, Jasper and I. Rose and Alice rarely joined us those nights. Emmett and I preferred games involving speed and destruction, while Bella and Jasper were more into games that involved planning and strategy.

Tonight's game of choice was one that required a lot of thought and attention to detail. My mind continued to wander back to the hockey game this past weekend where I'd managed to get beaten on three separate occasions by the opposing forwards. I couldn't stop the replay in my mind. Coach told me we'd go over what I could do to avoid it happening the next time at the next practice, but I just couldn't get it out of my mind.

After losing my very last life in the video game I was not paying the least bit of attention to, I handed the controller over to the next player. I closed my eyes and laid my head back against the couch. A few moments later, I felt the couch dip beside me and my eyes popped open when I felt a hand graze softly across my forehead right at the hairline. I looked over to find Bella sitting beside me, attention on the game being played, hand now moving to scratch lightly at my scalp. It felt so relaxing and my eyes closed of their own volition. I must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing I knew I woke up to Emmett's booming voice.

*~AtR~*

JASPER

"You WHAT?" His voice was strained and he looked like he wanted to hit me. I looked to Ed for support but his face looked practically stricken. I was seriously confused. What the hell was with these guys?

"The m-movies. I asked her to go with me." I turned my attention back to Emmett. He was rubbing his hands up and down over his face. He laced his fingers together behind his head and stared at me hard.

"And WHY would you do that?"

"Um, 'cuz she said she wanted to see the movie when the commercial came on while we were waiting for you and Alice to grab the snacks?" I watched Emmett as his posture seemed to relax a bit. I was getting the impression that I may need to leave the room, fast. He eyed me warily before releasing his breath in a big poof.

"And who else is going?"

"I don't know," I muttered, "We JUST started talking about it before her phone rang. Whoever wants to, I guess?"

I looked over at Edward and noticed that his face was very pale.

"You alright man?" What? My dad is a freaking doctor. I notice this shit.

"Yeah, yes. I'm... good." His breathing, which had been unusually fast seemed to be going back to normal.

"You getting sick or something? Should we head home?" I didn't want him chucking all over the McCarty's basement. We spent a lot of time hanging out here. The last thing we needed was him redecorating the furniture. Renee and Garrett would make us find a new place to chill.

"Um, no. No." He cleared his throat and at least the colour seemed to be coming back to his face. "I just must have fallen asleep there for a bit." He rubbed his left hand roughly at the back of his neck for a bit. "I just wasn't sure where the hell I was, or what was going on there for a bit."

Bella and Alice came bouncing down the stairs and back into the room. Alice jumped back in to the arm chair she had vacated and Bella plunked herself on the couch between me and Edward. He had laid his head back against the back of the couch again. I just hoped this time he didn't start snoring and muttering in his sleep. That crap was annoying.

"So, Birdy. I hear that you and Jaz have plans to go see a movie."

She looked puzzled for a minute and turned to me with a questioning glance. "Oh! Right! The new Bobby Patterson movie! Yeah, I thought we were all going?"

"Right, right. All of us. Of course." Emmett finally seemed to be back to normal. I still wasn't sure what the hell had gotten into him, but I got the impression that I wasn't going to have to scurry over the back of the couch to escape anymore.

I was just about to turn my attention back to the game when I noticed Emmett's posture stiffened again. I looked around at myself quickly to try and figure out what I had done this time to set him off. When I looked up at his face, I noticed that his eyes were locked to my right. I followed his gaze to see Bella running her fingers across Edward's forehead and down his temple as he stared at the ceiling. She repeated the motion and the skin around Emmett's neck began to turn pink.

"What the hell, Jaz. Are you gonna play or what?" Bella was looking at me expectantly while her hand continued stroking Ed's face. "Rose is coming over to show me and Al something, but I want to see who wins first." Edward rolled his head to the side before sitting up and leaning forward with his elbows on his knees causing Bella to move her hand. She rested her arm across the back of the couch and continued to stare me down.

I turned my attention back to the game and tried to figure out when I'd entered the Twilight Zone. Why the hell was it a crime to ask Bella if she wanted to go to the movies with us, and since when was Bella all touchy-feely with Edward?

After we un-paused the game, Emmett was not playing well at all. I easily beat him and Bella was quick to jump in as my next opponent. Emmett and Edward ran upstairs to grab a couple of cases of pop from the storage room to restock the fridge while I did my best to defeat Bella. The doorbell rang almost exactly at the same time as Bella made her move and cemented her victory.

Bella tossed the controller onto the arm chair and began to do a little victory dance. Alice and I rolled our eyes behind her back. Bella's dance moves were weird at the best of times, but she made a jerky movement when she heard Emmett yell, "Holy shit!", immediately followed by Edward's, "What the hell is that?"

Bella and I looked at each other quickly before the three of us darted up the stairs to find out what all the fuss was about.

*~AtR~*

EMMETT

Edward and I were rifling through the kitchen cupboards and pantry trying to find some more snacks to go along with the pop we snagged to refill the basement fridge when the doorbell rang. I grabbed a handful of mixed nuts and walked down the hallway towards the front door while simultaneously leaning my head back and dumping the nuts into my mouth. I yanked the door open, lowering my chin to get a look at the visitor. As my eyes travelled over the woman standing in my doorway, my breath caught in my throat along with some nut chunks and I began coughing and choking uncontrollably. I could hear Edward running up behind me. I clung to the open door for support as he thumped me on the back soundly and repeatedly. When I could finally breathe, I choked out, "Holy Shit!"

Edward pushed the door back to see what had caused the ruckus and gave his own surprised exclamation.

"What? What the heck is wrong with you two?" Rose stood on the front porch in a dress that barely covered her assets. I mean, damn. The girl had always been a looker, but this dress showed off every curve on her body. When did my sister's friend turn into such a bombshell?

I was still gaping at her with my eyes practically popping out of my head when Bella came up with Jasper and Alice in tow. "WOW, Rose. That dress is, uh, something."

I finally managed to get some of my brain power back on line. "Rosie, why are you all dressed up? Hot date?" Damn. I really, really hoped not.

She narrowed her eyes and glared at me. "Yeah, right. I always go out on dates looking like a two dollar hooker. Idiot. I have to be in my cousin's wedding in two weeks and THIS is what she wants me to wear." She turned her attention back to the girls and away from Edward and I.

"What do you think?" She obviously had a strong opinion about this dress. All of Rose's opinions were strong.

"Well," Alice carefully began, "the colour is beautiful on you and the cut is very flattering..."

"But..." Rose prompted.

Yeah, speaking of her butt… If she had to bend over for any reason, anyone lucky enough to be standing behind her would be getting quite a show.

"It's a bit, um, short? Isn't it?" Bella was obviously expecting Rose to flip out since she looked like she was expecting to be hit or something.

"I KNOW, right? What the hell! I went over to Carmen's for my fitting. You know, the dressmaker in the strip mall up the street?" Rose's phone began ringing in her purse. "She was out, but the girl behind the counter told me it was all ready for me. She said I could just go in and try it on and Carmen would be back in a couple of minutes to make any final adjustments."

She was tugging on the bottom hem of the dress, I guess hoping it would magically stretch or something. I couldn't take my eyes off her legs. They looked fantastic. What? It was better than starting at the area where my eyes were desperately drawn to!

"I put it on and just freaked out! I can NOT go out in public in this thing. I can't even sit down for Pete's sake!" Even though she obviously planned to ignore it, whoever was trying to call her, the phone just kept ringing. "I couldn't even think straight. I grabbed my purse and ran out of there. Sorry for just showing up at your door, but you were closest and I just had to get out of there."

"What are you going to do?" Bella asked.

"I don't know! I can't wear this. My dad will KILL me."

"Maybe you could get her to..."

"What? Do what?" Rose snapped at Bella. That was my hint to get the heck out of Dodge.

"ROSE!" Their friend Angela came running up the driveway towards the house giving us further cover to sneak away under. "I've been trying to call you! Answer your damn phone next time!" She shoved some clothes at Rosalie who immediately headed for the powder room.

I grabbed Edward's shoulder and shoved him back towards the kitchen motioning for Jasper to follow us. We grabbed the snacks and drinks we had abandoned and headed down to the basement in silence.

Visions of Rose wound their way through my brain and I had to physically shake my head to try and get them out. After we'd put the drinks in the fridge and settled back into comfortable positions Edward broke the silence.

"That dress... Rose looked... Wow." If it weren't for the fact that I knew EXACTLY how he was feeling, I'd have laughed at the bewildered expression on Edward's face.

"Yep. She did," Jasper agreed. I was lost in dreamland again for a second before what they said sunk in. "HEY! What are you doing looking at her like that? Knock it off!"

I guess I might have been a little more aggressive as I turned on Edward than I intended since his expressed went from bewildered to shocked and then to fearful in no time and he struggled to move out of my reach.

"Shit! What? I didn't mean anything by it! It was just kind of hard NOT to notice, okay? Jeez,. Em. Calm down!"

"Yeah, yeah, right. Sorry man, it's just... I... I don't know. Just don't look at her like that, okay?"

"Okay. No problem."

I quickly looked over at Jasper who was sitting in the armchair with his hands out, palms up like he was trying to shield himself from me. This day just kept getting weirder and weirder. First, I thought Jasper asked my sister on a date. I'd hate to have to beat down one of my best friends, but that would NOT be okay with me. Turns out, he just included her to come along with us, all of us. A group thing, not a date. Then, my sister's friend, a girl I've known for ages and not had a single thought about in regards to being attracted to her, shows up at my front door in the shortest, tightest dress I've ever seen and I go all caveman when my other best friend insinuated he thought she looked good. What was wrong with me?


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:**** Short and sweet this week. Thanks to the lovely and talented ACullenWannabe for making sense of a strange paragraph! **

**CHAPTER 11:**

ALICE

"Pleeeeeeese? Come on Al, you owe me! I came with you to the mall when you SWORE, you PROMISED that we were only going in to pick up a couple of things."

"So." I knew she was going to make me pay for tricking her into an all-day shopping extravaganza. Bella was a beautiful girl, but she insisted on dressing like some kind of down-and-out hippie. Ever since her body started developing, she'd taken to wearing Emmett's old shapeless t-shirts and sweatshirts over tights, or huge chunky sweaters and loose jeans. I did my best to try and get her to buy some flattering clothes, but once again, I struck out. Thank heaven spring was coming soon. She'd HAVE to abandon the loose layers once summer hit.

"So? What do you mean, so? We were there for FOUR hours, Alice. All I'm asking is for you to come to a movie with me for an hour and a half."

"Oh, come on, Bella. You know I hate action movies. Please don't make me come. Call Rose, call Leah, call ANYONE."

"No, Alice. This is payback. You owe me. You're coming."

"Bellllllllaaaa, puh-leeeeze. Don't make me spend the night with your brother's stinky friends."

"They're not that bad. Besides, you can't leave me alone with them. That would just be awkward. They're Emmett's friends, not mine."

My eyebrows rose into my hairline, even though I knew she couldn't see me through the phone line. The disbelief was apparent in my voice. "Are you kidding me? You spend hours and hours with those guys every week?"

"That's different. I play video games with them in my basement. I don't actually hang out with them."

"Uh, right. It's the same thing."

"It's not. They barely even notice I'm there. I'm just another player when they need a fourth."

"Right. That's all it is." The sarcasm dripped from my words.

"Whatever. You're coming."

*~ATR~*

BELLA

I was standing by the front door of the movie theatre, muttering to myself while waiting for Alice. She should have been here ten minutes ago. If she stood me up, I was going to rip the new designer blouse she'd gushed over during our recent shopping torture to ribbons. She owed me at least a couple of hours of her time in return.

My attention was zeroed-in on the road out front so I missed the body sidling up to me right up until a voice next to my ear startled me.

"Here all alone, sweetheart?"

I jumped a little and moved away from the guy to my left.

"Nope, just waiting with my friends for one more, then we're going in."

"Is that so? Funny how I don't seem to see anyone else around…"

The leer in his voice was making me nervous. I quickly scanned the area to see if I could pick out any of the guys. I couldn't find a single one. Figures.

"Well, they eat like pigs." Nice one, Bella. "They're probably stocking up on snacks before the movie starts. They'll be back soon." They damn well better be. This guy was seriously creeping me out.

He leaned forward and I realized I was practically pinned in between his body and the video game to my right. Perfect. I had nowhere to go unless I managed to shove my way past this guy. He was almost as big as Emmett, but I was pretty sure he was older. I was getting more and more frantic to be away from him. There was no way I'd be able to get out of this situation without making a scene.

"There you are! We've been looking everywhere for you."

My heart leapt at the familiar voice. A gigantic smile erupted on my face and I looked past dude's shoulder in relief. "Sorry, I got distracted while looking for Al."

"Well, okay… sweetie… Ready to go in?" Sweetie? Why is he calling me sweetie?

"We were having a conversation here, man." I blinked in disbelief. This guy was unbelievable. "Just go ahead and she'll meet you in there later, if she still wants to."

It took a moment for my brain to catch up with what was going on. He was pretending to be my boyfriend to get my overly-friendly admirer to back off.

"I'm ready. Let's go." I pushed my way past, and thankfully he didn't resist. When I reached him, I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist. I finally felt safe as his arms came to rest around my shoulders.

"Fine. If you change your mind, come find me. I'll see ya around."

I waited until he took a few steps away before I muttered under my breath, "Over my dead body." A shudder rippled through my torso as the words left my mouth. As if he could hear me, he suddenly turned back towards us. My mind darted over several options quickly to convince the creeper that I would not be changing my mind and taking him up on his offer. I lifted myself up on my tiptoes and planted a quick kiss on the lips of my savior. His eyes opened almost comically wide and his mouth froze.

Two gasps immediately followed.

I craned my neck to find Alice standing just inside the doorway with her mouth open. Loosening my arms from around Jasper's waist, I stepped back and saw Edward standing just outside the men's restroom door a few feet away with a stunned expression.

Jasper immediately started rambling, "It's not what it looks like! There was this guy, and he had her trapped, and I couldn't see Emmett, and… Oh, GOD. Don't tell Emmett! He's going to kill me! He already thinks I…"

"Jasper!" I cut him off and explained the situation quickly. I could see the tension melt from our group once we were all on the same page. "Thanks, Jazz. I didn't know what I was going to do. That guy just was… freaky."

"No problem. I just saw that you looked panicked and I wasn't sure what to do."

"It was perfect. Thanks again."

"HEY!" Emmett's loud echoed down the hallway. "Let's go! The movie's about to start you guys!"

We moved swiftly down the hallway and took our places in the row that the guys had commandeered for our group.

At various times during the movie I looked over to Alice expecting to find her engrossed in her phone or with a bored expression on her face. Instead, I found her staring at the screen with her eyebrows furrowed. She was absently playing with the bracelet on her wrist by spinning it slowly.

After an hour of watching her on and off, I elbowed her gently. "Alice, are you okay?"

"Huh?" She looked away from the screen to me, but her eyes just passed over me then back to the screen.

"Something was obviously bugging her, but I wasn't going to get any answers from her now."

*~ATR~*

ALICE

We emerged from the movie theatre into the sunny afternoon. I was still trying to wrap my head around what had happened earlier. Surprisingly, it wasn't the fact that I had walked in on Bella planting a kiss on Jasper. What was bothering me the most was my reaction to it. I was mad. Not just mad. I was jealous.

Even after they had explained what had happened and I knew, without a doubt, that there was nothing behind the kiss and no feelings between them, I was still irrationally jealous.

Bella grabbed my arm as I was about to get into my Mom's car. "Hey Em," she said, "Can you tell Mom that I've gone over to Alice's place for a bit? I'll call her later."

I looked back at her and she raised her eyebrows in a questioning look. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah, of course." I knew my answer sounded less than encouraging, but I still was operating on only partial brain power. The rest of my brain was still occupied in analyzing my earlier reaction.

To her credit, Bella managed to keep herself from staging an inquisition regarding what was going on in my head until we'd reached my house and shut ourselves in my room.

She busied herself plugging my iPod in to my iHome and then straightening up my room, which was ridiculous because my room was always immaculate, before she decided to just come out with it.

"What's wrong, Alice? Are you mad at me?" She sat down on my desk chair and tucked her right foot up under her left knee. "I know you didn't really want to come see that movie, but I wanted a friend there. One of my friends. And you did kind of owe me."

I closed my eyes and let out a sigh before answering her. "No, Bella. I'm not mad at you."

"Then what's going on? You've been weird all afternoon."

I shook my head and tried to smile for her. "It's kind of hard to explain."

"Ok. Try me."

"It's just… Well, this afternoon… I never…UGH!" I threw myself backward on my bed so that I was now lying prone across it with my left arm flung over my eyes.

I heard the chair squeak quietly when Bella rose from it, then felt the bed dip beside me as she climbed up beside me. Her hand touched my temple and she gently rubbed at it with her thumb. The sensation was very soothing and I took a deep breath and tried again.

"It just caught me off guard."

"What did?" She paused for a moment, then continued. "Oh, you mean me kissing Jazz. Yeah, well it surprised me too. I just didn't know what else to do to get that guy to leave me alone."

I smiled weakly and shook my head slowly from side to side. "No, not that. Although that was DEFINITELY surprising. No, I meant the way I reacted to it."

I felt her hand on my wrist as she pulled my arm away. I opened my eyes to find her studying my face. "I don't understand."

"EXACTLY! I don't understand either!" She jumped a bit at my outburst.

"I'm sorry, Alice. You've lost me."

I giggled hopelessly. "Good, then we're both lost." I hauled myself up to a sitting position and turned my body so that I was facing her.

"My first reaction was shock. I'd never seen even the slightest clue that you two were interested in each other." I held up my hand when she started to protest. She closed her mouth and let me continue.

"My second reaction is the one that has me all discombobulated." I paused and looked down at my lap. "I was jealous." I looked up to see Bella's reaction when, instead of the shocked or dismayed expression I expected to see, I found her smiling.

"Why are you smiling? This isn't funny. This is just… confusing."

"Sorry, Al. I'm not trying to upset you. It's just that it's about time."

"What do you mean, 'about time'?" What was she talking about?

"I MEAN, that boy has been crushing on you forever. You've finally realized that you like him. I was starting to think it was never going to happen. Rose will be so pleased that she doesn't have to spell it out for you."

That was just not possible. There was no way. I would have noticed if Jasper liked me. The more I sat and thought about it, the more little things I remembered. The clues had been there all along. I just hadn't seen them.

The way he always gave up his seat on the couch for me and took the floor. The way he always squirreled away a can of my favorite kind of pop for me when the supply was running low. How he would patiently show me the tricks for the levels of whatever games they roped me in to playing. The shy smiles. The brief 'accidental' brushes of his hand on my arm, or his leg against mine.

"HOLY CRAP!" I jumped off my bed and stared blankly at my friend. She was smiling widely and clapping her hands. "What do I do NOW?"


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:**** Blah, blah, blah... I suck at updating. I know this. Every other story I am working on will be prewritten so that I can post regularly. You have my word (for what it's worth). Thank you, as usual, to the lovely A Cullen Wannabe for her beta skills.**

Disclaimer: You're up to Chapter 12, you've already seen it. It hasn't changed.

**CHAPTER 12:**

EDWARD

The rest of the school year flew by. The week after school ended, Bella packed up her bags and headed off to visit her father again for the summer. At first, the guys and I tried to stick to our normal routine, but soon we started spending less and less time indoors playing video games. Actually, we didn't spend much time at all at the McCarty/Swan house. It just didn't feel the same spending so much time there doing those things without her there. At least, that's how I felt.

Every once in a while, Emmett would give us a brief update on what she'd been up to in the small town where her Dad lived. She apparently spent some time hiking, some time hanging out at a beach, and a lot of time fishing with her Dad. What surprised me most was how much it aggravated me every time he mentioned the names of the people she was hanging out with. There were way too many guys in that group.

My mom noticed before I did that my appetite had 'increased quite dramatically' this summer. Of course, once she mentioned it, I realized that I was constantly hungry and always looking for something to eat. She started complaining about the amount of food she was having to buy each week, especially if some of the guys came by to hang out. Emmett was still eating everything in sight, but now it was starting to hang around a little longer. Once, Rose mentioned the word "pudgy" to describe him when we ran into her and Alice at the mall. From that point on, Emmett, Jasper, some of the other guys from hockey along with some of our friends from school and I started spending time at the local fitness center. I don't think what we were doing could be called a fitness regime, but we spent time lifting weights, racing each other on the rowing machines, running laps and just generally learning how the equipment works.

When we weren't working out, we were hanging out at the beach or working. Emmett's dad pulled some strings and got a few of us part time jobs working maintenance with the local park service. I liked the job. I got to spend all day driving around with a few other guys or girls in a golf cart cleaning up after the visitors every day. Occasionally I got to help out a bit with fixing some of the equipment. It wasn't a bad way to make some money and I got to spend the majority of my shifts outside.

It could have been worse; I could have let Alice talk me in to working at that preppy clothing store in the mall where Jasper was working. I swear, that girl had him wrapped around her finger. They spent almost all their time together when they were both off work. The only times we saw him were when she was at work, or forced to spend 'quality time' with her family.

As the days and weeks wore on, I spent more and more time mentally calculating when Bella would be back home. I tried to tell myself it was just because I needed the challenge back so that I didn't constantly cream the other guys on the games, but I knew I was full of it.

As the summer began to wind to a close, and the guys and I spent more and more time outdoors, I became aware of something that had me smirking every time I thought about it. There were always girls. Wherever we went, whatever we were doing, we seemed to attract a crowd. Earlier today, we had gone over to the school to use the hoops attached to the back of the building for a quick game. It was just Emmett, Jasper, Riley and I playing some hoops when my attention was caught by a glimpse of long hair and endless legs. A couple of girls were now sitting on the electrical box about thirty feet away watching us. I elbowed Riley and lifted my chin in their direction. He smiled knowingly and the next time the ball came his way he 'accidentally' missed it and it headed in their direction.

He pulled his usual prince charming act and we were suddenly signed up for a group outing to the movies with them and two of their friends. This summer was looking better and better.

*~AtR~*

BELLA

I was so done playing referee between Jake and Mike by the time my summer visit was over, I seriously contemplated skipping next year's visit. Of course, by the time next summer rolled around, I was sure that I'd miss my Dad badly and would be looking forward to the trip. The two boys, who'd been my best friends in Forks since I could remember, had starting acting all weird in the middle of my stay. At first, we all hung out at the beach or the local community center, just like always. Then there was a point where they both started acting like complete jerks and picking fights with each other. It was almost like they each wanted me to spend time with them, and not the other. I would never understand boys. Men are from Mars, my ass. Men are from Uranus.

Around the same time, I was humiliated to have to ask my Dad to drive me in to the bigger town nearby to do some clothes shopping. When he gave me a hard time about not really having time to do it this week, and perhaps we can wait until the week before I leave, like usual, I blurt out that I've outgrown all of my bras and I really would prefer that my suddenly blossoming cleavage doesn't pop out of all of my current clothing. This mortified us both long enough for him to agree and drive me into town, with the music unusually loud in the passenger compartment of his car. I think he was afraid I'd start discussing my cycles or something as equally terrifying to a single Dad.

I spent the remainder of my visit trying to avoid boys in general. They were all acting strange and I just didn't know how to deal with them. At all. I sought out Angela as often as I could and even resorted to hanging out with Lauren at the local pool. I hid under one of my Dad's fishing hats with oversized t-shirts over my now ill-fitting bathing suits while she strutted her stuff in a bikini I swore was a couple of sizes too small. It was almost a relief to be practically invisible beside her. She liked the attention, and I was happy to let her command it.

The last week of my visit was rainy and cool. I spent it doing laundry, cleaning the house, preparing a freezer full of meals for my Dad, and generally being miserable. I couldn't really go anywhere because Dad was working and it was too wet to walk anywhere. None of my friends were old enough to drive. I did my laundry and packed up my luggage in preparation to head back home. It was at this point that I realized how much I missed Emmett and the guys. My dad only had an ancient Nintendo that one of the guys he worked with passed down. I tried to play Tetris and Duck Hunt to pass the time, but it just made me miss them more.

I tried very hard to stifle my excitement as the time to leave approached. I loved my Dad and the summers I got to spend with him meant a lot to me. I just really wanted to get back home to my girls, Alice and Rose, and my guys. I'd only spoken to the girls twice each, once together, and my contact with Emmett was limited to the short snippets of conversation we had when I called home before Mom wrestled the phone from his hands.

I'd hugged Dad tightly and cried a little when I'd boarded the plane, but I couldn't wait to get back home. I was practically bouncing in my seat the entire flight and could barely contain my excitement when the plane landed and we were finally allowed to exit. I managed to restrain myself when I wanted to shove past the elderly couple in front of me traveling up the ramp from the plane into the airport. I finally made it through the lines and gathered my luggage. I rushed through and eagerly searched for my family. It wasn't hard. I think my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw Emmett. He'd grown about four inches and put on quite a few pounds. His face was fuller, but it appeared that most of the weight he'd gained over his formerly gangly body was muscle.

He spotted me and came running over sweeping me up into his arms and giving me a big bear hug.

"EM! Can't…breathe," I managed to squeak out.

"Whoops! Sorry!" He gently set me back on my feet and I was immediately swamped by hugs from my Mom and Garrett.

"Oh, sweetie! You look great! So grown up all of a sudden." My face burned with my embarrassment and Garrett thankfully redirected the attention to my luggage. Garrett and Emmett each grabbed a suitcase and Mom took my overloaded backpack.

We chatted during the trip home from the airport catching up on any events that may have been skipped or glossed over during the phone calls. Some things were just better to share in person. Once we reached the house and all of my things were transported up to my room, I noticed that Emmett was standing in my doorway practically dancing with what appeared to be nervous energy.

"What's up, Em?" I smiled at his obviousness.

"Uh, well, you've been gone a while, and I thought you might want to get caught up. Every Sunday afternoon we usually all get together for a pick up game and the girls usually come by to watch. I, uh, just… You wanna go?"

"I think the question is, do YOU want to go?"

"Well, yeah. I do, but I don't want to just take off on you. You just got back. I don't want to be rude or anything." I watched as Emmett raised one hand and began rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke.

"Emmett, you don't have to hang around here today on my account. I'll be fine. I want to get everything put away first, then I'll catch up with you guys. Go, have fun. I'll see you later."

"Are you sure? You can come with, I really don't mind."

"Aww. Did you mess me, Emmy?" I poked him in the chest. "I'm sure, I'll probably walk over later. You'll just be up at the school, right?"

"Ok. Yeah, ok. Come over later. See ya, Birdy."

I shook my head and laughed when Emmett turned and tramped down the stairs sounding like a herd of wild animals.

After unpacking all my clothes and the other items I'd brought back with me, I stowed the suitcases in the basement storage room, shooing off Garrett when he tried to do it for me. I tried calling Rose and Alice, but neither one of them was at home. I had a quick snack in the kitchen before deciding to walk over to the school to see if they were over there.

It was a beautiful late summer afternoon, the sun and warm breeze felt wonderful as I strolled down the sidewalks. I waved to a few of the neighbours I hadn't seen since I'd left to visit my Dad. I stopped and played with Mrs. Cope's new puppy for a few moments while chatting with her about what changes she'd made to her front garden this year. When I finally arrived at the school, I could hear shouts and trash talking from behind the building. I turned the corner and my mouth dropped open at the sight before me.

My gaze traveled from one muscular, toned body to the next. The summer had been very good to the boys. My heart stuttered in my chest and my breath caught when my eyes caught a glimpse of cinnamon strands and stormy gray-green eyes.

He was taller, and broader in the shoulders. Trimmer through the hips. His face had lost some of its former fullness. His muscles were defined but not overly so. I licked my lips and couldn't help the appreciation I was sure was plain on my face as I continued over towards where Rose, Alice and a couple of other girls I recognized from school sat watching and chatting.

I sat in the grass beside Alice who leaned in to my side and quietly asked, "See something you like, Tink?"

I couldn't hide the shy smile and looked down at my lap to try and disguise it. "Why do you ask, Ali-babba?"

"Oh, no reason. Other than the river of drool making its way down your face, you're bright pink cheeks, and the fact that you're practically panting."

I touched my cheek with the back of my hand and sure enough, it was flaming hot. I decided to continue denying any knowledge. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Al. It was a long walk over here. It's a hot day."

"Right. Sure, whatever you say. Who is it? Riley? Hmm, nope. Edward? Really, Bella? Huh. Well, just so you know, Stanley over there was been after him for most of the summer. Him and Riley went to the movies with her and Bree a couple of times, and she thought that meant that they were boyfriend and girlfriend. When he didn't call her for any other dates or really acknowledge her presence, she flipped out. She thinks he's playing hard to get. He's totally oblivious so far, but she's getting more and more obvious."

Just to make Alice's point for her, Jessica chose that moment to grab a thermos and a small towel from the bag sitting beside her and trotted over to Edward fawning all over him with her offerings. He thanked her offhandedly and wiped his face with the towel before tossing it back to her, then downed the contents of the thermos.

"Aww. Sweetpea, did you happen to bring me a drink?" Jasper's blonde curls bounce under the weight of the perspiration dripping down the back of his neck as he walked towards us.

"Of course I did." Alice handed him a container and a banana. We all watched in stunned silence as he peeled the banana and finished it off in two bites, washing it down with whatever Alice had fill the container with.

"Thanks, baby. You're the best." He leaned down and placed a sweet kiss on her lips. They were just so cute together. I didn't really get to see much of them after they got together because I was getting ready to leave. I was happy to see how much they seemed to adore each other.

I looked up and Edward had returned to tossing the ball back and forth with Riley. Jessica was still standing nearby looking like she couldn't believe she was being ignored. I bit the inside of my cheek in an attempt to keep from laughing. He never even looked over towards her. She eventually gave up and stalked back to her bag, picking it up and stomping off without so much as a goodbye.

"Finally!" Rose muttered. "That girl can not take a hint. She's been following him around like a lost puppy, hoping for a scrap of his attention since Riley talked him into a double date. Emmett says that he was interested at first, but since she never shuts up talking about herself, he's not anymore. In fact, he barely notices her, other than when she brings him a snack or a drink. But he's just thankful, not interested in dating her. What an idiot."

"Why, if he's not interested, he's not interested?" I try to hide the relief in my voice.

Rose cocks an eyebrow at me. "Not him, her. She's the idiot."

"Oh." I shove my little green monster back into the closet where she belongs and try to play it off casually.

"Something you'd like to share there Bella-boo?"

"Nope."

"Uh, huh…"

I diverted my attention back to the game and couldn't help but notice how Emmett's eyes kept flicking back to Rose. I watched him for a bit to make sure I wasn't imagining it. Nope, he was definitely watching her closely. I leaned back so that I was lying on the grass and shuffled my position so that I could see Rose while appearing to be watching the action on the court. Sure enough, her gaze was focused on Emmett, except for when he looked her way. Her eyes darted away. I groaned internally. This was something I didn't plan on. My brother and one of my very best friends crushing on each other. This could not end well.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:**** Hello, brave souls who haven't given up on me yet! I know this has taken MUCH too long, but I have no intention of abandoning this story. My life is crazy, just like everyone else's. Although I love my writing time and reading time, my family always comes first! I know slow updates are a pain and I won't hold it against you if you decide you can't stick with my sporadically-updating ass. On we go...**

**Thank you again, and I bow at A Cullen Wannabe's feet for her speedy beta skills that take away from her own writing time for her REAL stories. ;) **

**[If you require a refresher on the disclaimer, it can be found on my profile.]**

**CHAPTER 13:**

EDWARD

I had tried very hard not to stare as I caught sight of Bella rounding the corner. She had been looking our way, watching someone very carefully. I tried to follow her line of sight without being obvious. Was she watching Riley? Damn, I really hoped not. I liked the guy. If he was interested in Bella, then that might change. In fact, there was no _might_ about it.

Bella walked over to join the girls and I watched her while trying to make it appear as though I wasn't. The more I looked, the more changes I noticed. Her hair was longer, her skin tanned gold. I couldn't put my finger on exactly what else had changed, but every time I looked away, my eyes were drawn back to her. She commanded my attention without doing a thing.

The game continued and I had to concentrate hard just to keep my mind even partially on the game. When we decided to take a quick break, I started going over my statistics from last year's hockey team in my head to keep from staring. Someone handed me a towel and some water when we took a quick break. I kept my eyes on my sneakers, willing myself to have at least a bit of self control while I wiped the sweat that was dripping down my face. I studied the few light clouds floating across the sky as I gulped down the water.

Jasper walked over to where the girls were sitting and I tore my attention from the petite brunette and back to the court. I nudged him to get his attention, then faked Riley out and twisted around him bumping him with my shoulder before I managed to get off a shot at the basket. After a few more shots, and Jasper and Emmett got back in the game, I snuck a look at Bella while bending over, hands on knees. She was speaking to the girls, but every few moments she would look our way. Suddenly her cheeks became so pink I could see them all the way over here. I tossed the ball towards Jasper a little harder than I meant to and he chucked it back at my head. I was about to pass it over to Emmett when I realized that he wasn't paying the least bit of attention to the game. He was staring over towards the group sitting in the grass. I filed that away to ask him about later.

I looked back and forth a few times. Bella shifted her position and lay back on the grass. I almost whimpered when her shirt rode up and a section of her lower belly was revealed. From this angle, if the top rode up just an inch more, I'd probably be able to see up her shirt. I wiped the back of my hand across my mouth in case the drool I was imagining actually was leaking down the side of my mouth. Thankfully, there was none.

The game continued for a while before we all decided we were too hot and irritable to continue. Some of the guys headed out, taking their girls with them. Emmett and I followed Jasper over to where Alice, Rose, and Bella were. Bella smiled at us as we approached.

"Hi, Bella. Welcome back! How was your summer?" Jasper plunked himself down on the ground in front of Alice and leaned backwards until his head was resting in her lap. Emmett sat behind Bella and off to Rose's side. I shuffled awkwardly for a moment before deciding to sit down beside Bella as she answered Jasper and gave us a quick rundown of her summer activities. I wasn't close enough for my liking, but I was careful not to crowd her. I was way too aware of how close her hand was to mine where they rested on the ground supporting our bodies. I shifted my position when I realized that I was unconsciously leaning towards her. As she spoke, I kept my eyes on the six inches of grass between her little finger and mine. I had the strangest desire to reach out and rub her fingers with mine.

*~ATR~*

EMMETT

Thank God this first day of school had gone so much better than last year. No episodes of Bella and Edward drama. No Bella, well, being Bella. She was in one piece and miraculously not dented, damaged or bruised. I walked in the front door of the house and dropped my backpack to the ground as I kicked off my shoes.

"OW! Damn it, Emmett!"

I cringed as I turned and found Bella standing in the doorway with a palm pressed to her forehead. I'd forgotten she was right behind me and let the screen door slam closed behind me. "Oh well, you almost made it the whole day without an injury." I tried to make a joke, but I really felt bad. "Let me see."

She batted my hand away with her free hand, but I easily caught her flailing arm and used my other hand to pull her hand off her forehead. Sure enough, she had an angry line down the center of her forehead and was bleeding from a scrape along the line.

"How bad is it?" she asked.

"Not bad, for you. Come on, I'll get you a bandage." I grabbed her bag from her shoulder and walked down the hall to the kitchen.

"I can get my own bandage," she grumbled.

"Yes, I know you can. This one's my fault, so I'll get it."

There are bandages in every bathroom in this house because of Birdy's tendency to injure herself, but I decided to run up to ours so I could make a quick detour to my room to get out of my jeans and t-shirt that was slightly sticky from the walk home in the late-summer heat. I'd pulled on a clean shirt when I remembered that my clean laundry was still in the basket in the basement where I'd left it last night. I grabbed a bandage from the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, then headed down to the kitchen on my way to grab some sweatpants.

I was half-jogging down the steps when I saw Bella on her way up.

"Oh, come on, Emmett. I don't want to see that!" She averted her eyes and scrunched her face up.

"See what?" I stopped walking and looked down at my shirt.

"Your private parts. You're my brother that's just so wrong." She was trying to push her way past me.

"What the hell are you talking about? I've got boxers on!"

She made this huffing sound and blew out her breath. "Yes, Emmett, you do. However, you have apparently forgotten that boxers have an opening in the front. When you come galloping down the stairs like a herd of wildebeests, things… uh… poke out."

"Oh, calm down. I think you'll survive one accidental view. We used to take baths together when we were little. It's nothing you haven't seen before."

"Ugh, just, no. Eww. We were five, Emmett. It's also been more than one. Why have you suddenly decided that boxers without pants are suitable clothing to wear around the house? Put some damn pants on! I'm just one tip-slip away from losing my lunch."

I knew she was right, and I shuddered at the thought that I'd been unknowingly flashing my dangly bits at my family. That crap was just creepy.

"Yeah, right. Will do." I passed her the bandage then continued down to the basement where I pulled on my sweats before heading back up to my room to put away the rest of my clothes.

By the time I headed back down to the kitchen, Bella was back at the table sorting through some papers and eating an apple she slathered with peanut butter.

"I assume all you guys are trying out, right?"

I looked back at her blankly. "What?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "Did you even look at the package of stuff that was handed out today?"

She was waiving a booklet of papers at me so I snagged it with one hand while stealing a slice of apple with the other. I looked at the page and one word jumped out at me. _Hockey_. They were holding try-outs for the school team at the end of the week. We hadn't been allowed to try out last year because of some stupid rule having to do with Grade 9 students having enough on their plates during their first year of high school. What a crock.

"Yes!" I couldn't wait to talk to the guys and make sure they were all trying out too.

Bella was laughing at me. "Are you a little excited, Em?"

"Hell, yeah! You're trying out too, right?" Now she was looking at me like I had three heads. "What?"

"Um, no. I don't think so." She was doing that stupid thing where she hides her face behind her hair when she's not happy about the topic of conversation.

"Um, yes, Lil' Bird. I DO think so. You'd be a better addition to that team than some of the guys at school. At least try out. What do you have to lose?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just a little thing called my dignity."

"What are you talking about? You're a great player."

The doorbell rang and she jumped out of the chair like her ass was on fire, running for the front door. I walked up the hall and smiled as she yanked open the door. Now I had reinforcements.

"Hey, Ed, Jazz. So, I assume you'll both be trying out for the school hockey team with me and Birdy, right?"

The glare I was on the receiving end of would be terrifying, if it wasn't coming from someone who barely reached my shoulder.

"You're trying out, too?" Edward's voice took on this weird level. It almost sounded like it was cracking, but not quite.

"No. Not likely." Belli's face was turning pink. Uh oh, I was going to pay for this later.

"What do you mean, no? Why not?" It was Jasper's turn to look at _her_ as if she'd sprouted a second or third noggin.

"I just…" She exhaled dramatically. She was such a girl sometimes. "I just don't want to, alright." She looked over at Edward quickly then away and her forehead got all scrunched up again.

"That's bullshit! Damn it!" Everyone jumped at my outburst. "Sorry." I walked over and crouched down to try and look into her eyes, but she wouldn't lift her head. Stubborn. She knew she was a crappy liar. Every emotion she felt was displayed in her eyes. She was hiding from us.

"Bella?" Edward's face looked like someone kicked his puppy. Repeatedly. "This is about… before, right?"

"NO!" Her eyes snapped to his. "No, Edward, it's… it's not that. It's…", she huffed and stomped her foot like she used to when we were kids. "Fine. _Fine!_ You guys win. I'll try out. Okay? Is everyone happy now?"

I tried to smother the grin threatening to break out, rather unsuccessfully. "Well, I know I am."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Let's review my earlier warnings, shall we? I suck at keeping a regular posting schedule. I'm sorry, but I warned you. Please don't give up on me! Thanks to the lovely and talented LyricalKris for her beta skills on this chapter as my wonderful friend ACullenWannabe has a deadline of her own to meet.**

CHAPTER 14:

**BELLA**

I stood in the hallway of the arena, just outside the rink, trying to calm my racing heart. I was sweating so much I could feel the cold liquid running down my spine between my shoulder blades.

_You can do this. It's just a practice. No big deal._

The sounds of approaching footsteps and spinning wheels over the tile flooring propelled me forward. I pushed through the door and glanced quickly at the chalkboard. Change rooms 2 and 4 had been set aside for this ice time. I decided on 4, betting on the boys being lazy enough to have gone into the closest room.

I never told Emmett I had changed my mind, again, about trying out. After the fifth or sixth time I'd flip-flopped, he'd just stopped listening to me. In fact, I'd gone as far as buying a plain black jersey to try and be less conspicuous.

I pushed open the door and found the room full of half-naked boys.

"What the hell? What are you doing in here?" Aro reached over and threw his track pants over his lap to hide whatever he assumed I'd be trying to peek at. Not likely. With a brother with personal nudity issues and random boys always around the house in various states of undress, he didn't have anything I hadn't already seen. Besides, I had zero interest in anything he, in particular, had to offer in that department.

"Changing for try-outs, what does it look like?" I left my sticks leaning against the wall behind the door and kept my head down while I found a spot on the bench. I had the good sense to come with my Under Armour already on underneath my clothes. I had slipping into my equipment down to a science and was dressed and standing at the door waiting before most of the guys were even half dressed.

As soon as the Zamboni finished up and the gate was closed, I popped open the latch and headed out on the ice. I skated counter-clockwise around the rink and wasn't even half way around before other bodies began to make their way out on the freshly-scraped surface.

I found a spot along the boards and did some stretches. The strain I placed on myself had caused my muscles to clench. My shoulders were so tense. I closed my eyes and tilted my head forward, then back. I heard the other skaters glide past. I listened to voices speak. Some voices I recognized, some I did not. I rolled my neck around, and then let it drop forward.

A warm hand landed on my neck and rubbed gently. I didn't open my eyes but couldn't help but smile.

"I'm that easy to spot, huh?"

His chuckle easily melted away some of my tension. His magic fingers pressed into my shoulders as much as he could under my shoulder pads.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure I'd have known it was you even if half of your equipment weren't my hand-me-downs."

I turned and gave him a nervous smile. "I'm scared shitless, Em."

"No need, Tink. You've got this in the bag. I've seen most of these guys on the ice already, and those I haven't… Well, there's probably a good reason."

I took the opportunity to scan the faces I could make out behind the bars of the face-masks. Emmett was right. I knew most of these guys from teams Emmett had played on or against over the years or from games I'd watched while waiting for Em to go on the ice, or get out of the change room. Some of them were faster, the older guys dwarfed me, there were even a few who had phenomenal stick-handling skills.

Overall, there were only a handful who appeared impressive. I felt the rest of my fear drain from my body. I could do this. I was every bit as good as the rest of these players.

*~ATR~*

**EDWARD**

When I stepped out on the ice, I immediately spotted Emmett standing beside a smaller guy. They looked to be deep into a serious conversation. There was something familiar about the shorter guy, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I set off to take a couple of laps before doing my stretches. I usually did them before I get on the ice, but I was running late today.

As I passed behind Emmett and his companion, I saw a thick braid of dark hair poking out between the jersey's collar and the helmet. It didn't take long for me to put the pieces together. I was ridiculously happy that Bella had decided to attend try-outs. I had an urge to go over and give her a big bear hug. I didn't, mostly because it wouldn't help her cause to be seen as 'just one of the guys'. She'd tucked her hair into her jersey and was wearing a plain back jersey. No emblem, no name, just the number 13 on the back. She was obviously trying to let her skills speak for themselves.

She caught my eye as I passed by a second time, and I gave her a wink and a smile. I hoped they came off as encouraging, not creepy.

The coaches had now stepped on to the ice. I was surprised to see who they were. Neither had previous coaching experience that I was aware of. Rather, they were both teachers at the school. Rather unliked ones, at that. After Coach Mark and Coach Cal introduced themselves, they conferred for a moment before instructing us on the first drill they wanted us to do. With a little extra excitement in my step, I threw myself into showcasing my skills.

At first, the practice/try-outs were going well. There were a few stand-outs and a few players who should have never stepped on the ice, but for the most part, it was a fairly evenly talented group. Bella was holding her own, always in the top third of the group.

Eventually, people recognized she was there, and she was a girl. Much to my surprise, though I don't really know why, we all soon realized that there were actually four girls on the ice, Rose included. One girl I didn't recognize at all, and the last looked familiar, but not enough that I could place her.

Things started going downhill slowly. At first it was easy enough to dismiss one of the girl's going down as a simple accidental collision. The fifth or sixth time, things began to appear less and less 'accidental'.

Practice had been running for about thirty minutes when it became necessary to use every bit of my will power to hold back from physically attacking Aro. That jerk and his friends had taken every opportunity to trip up, knock down or shoot errant pucks at Bella and the other girls. While two of the girls finally had enough and left the ice, effectively quitting, Bella had taken each incident in stride and continued on with whatever the coaches have asked. Emmett, Jasper, and I had been trading glares. I didn't think it would take much more for one of us to snap. These guys were acting like complete idiots.

Their reasoning was simple to figure out. They'd made their views clear.

"Sorry, sweetheart," Aro said as he'd 'accidentally' crashed into her while skating backwards.

"Oh, did that knock the wind out of you, princess?" Alec laughed as she landed on her back after being slew-footed.

Rose helped her up and they both clenched their teeth deeper into their mouth guards but said nothing as they skated away.

"Oops! Are you okay, honey?" Felix sneered as the puck he lifted at Rose's chest connected during the next shooting drill.

I started towards him, ready to teach him some manners, when she looked over at me, still prone on the ice and shook her head. I headed back to the group I was working with, trying to keep a closer eye on whoever was near Bella while Emmett's face turned a rather frightening shade of purple.

"I'm just fine, stud. Your shots aren't _that _hard."

I couldn't help but snicker as Rose pulled herself off the ice surface and back on to her feet. I could see the pain fleetingly cross her pretty face before her indifferent mask slipped back into place.

Practice continued on for a few more minutes when I noticed that Bella wasn't paying attention to the instructions being given by one of the assistant coaches on the ice. Instead, her eyes narrowed as she looked across the arena. I looked over to see Emmett standing outside of the boards, gesticulating wildly at Coach Mark. I broke away from my group and headed towards him. I heard skates beside me and looked back to find Jasper half a step behind me and to my right.

"That's bull, and you know it!" Emmett's voice was at that level it hit just before he lost his temper.

"If your sister and her friend aren't strong enough to deal with a few hits from their more skilled teammates, perhaps they should look into a different sport."

"Yes, like the chess club." Cal laughed and turned his attention back to the clipboard clutched in his hands. "Hockey is a rough game. Apparently, the girls haven't learned this yet."

I couldn't believe my ears. This was how the coaches reacted to what I assumed were Emmett's complaints about the way Aro and his goons were treating Bella? I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that he was the same guy that drove us to the hospital last year, for no reason other than Rose asked, well, told him to. As for those two so-called coaches, I didn't even know what to think about them. Weren't they supposed to encourage fair play and camaraderie among team mates? The essential qualities of successful teams, all the things that Uncle Carlisle, my dad and Garrett had drilled into my head, all of our heads, flitted through my mind.

"You have got to be kidding me? What kind of lame-ass..."

"You do realize that school teams are non-contact, right?" I couldn't help but ask. By the way Mark's eyes shot over to Cal, I was pretty sure they hadn't actually known that.

"Emmett, I think we're done here," Jasper said as he stepped between Emmett and both men. He eyed me meaningfully, and I took the hint and also stepped in between them. I not-so-gently pushed Emmett towards the change room. After we had moved a bit away down the walkway, I took a quick glance back out on the ice. Bella was standing beside Riley and Rose watching us leave. She looked furious.

Just as we reached the door, Emmett turned and began to shout at the coaches. "You guys are pathetic. You want a team full of bullies? You got it. Take my name off that damn list. I wouldn't play for you if you begged me!"

Jasper used every ounce of strength he possessed to shove Emmett into the change room. I pushed the door closed before his language turned decidedly less school-event-appropriate.

"Did you hear that shit?" Veins were popping out all over Emmett's face and neck. I had a momentary vision of him turning green and yelling "SMASH!"

"Yes, we did. That's a crock. I don't want anything to do with the kind of team those jerk-offs are trying to put together. Let them take all the block heads and see how well they do."

*~ATR~*

**EMMETT**

I practically ripped my equipment off and stuffed each piece into my bag as I removed it. I usually was pretty careful about how I packed up my bag, but I was so angry right then, I couldn't even see straight. I yanked on my pants and shoes and stuffed my torso into my shirt before grabbing my jacket, bag, and sticks and bolted from the change room.

I could hear Jas and Ed telling me to wait up, but I ignored them and stomped my way to the exit. I heard Ed cursing behind me and took a quick look back to see what was happening. I chuckled a bit as I saw him struggling to put his head through the correct hole of his shirt while chasing me with his bag, sticks, and jacket in one hand. Jasper was behind him trying to walk and stuff his feet into his sneakers at the same time. I slowed down to let them get their clothing straightened out before we hit the public areas of the arena.

I looked onto the ice and was met with a withering glare the likes of which I'd rarely seen from my little sister, and that was saying something. Over the years I'd been the recipient of plenty of dirty looks, but this one was unlike any I'd ever seen before. I could feel the flames of her intended incineration flickering behind her irises. I shook my head. Why she was still out there was beyond me. She obviously had some kind of death wish. I glared right back at her and mouthed the words, "It's your funeral", before turning and shoving my way out the doors.

When I finally made it home, I yanked my bag into the garage and began to empty it automatically as I had after every game and practice over the years. Renee was a stickler for making sure everything was hung and aired out after each use. Dad had set up a pretty cool area off to the side in the back of the garage with three separate sections for his, mine, and Bella's gear. Looking at the haphazard way I'd shoved everything in just served to remind me how furious I was when undressing, and I grumbled and muttered to myself as I tossed the washables into the hamper and reorganized the remaining equipment into the proper locations. I left the hamper in its spot for Bella to unload her stuff whenever she got here and headed into the house.

I grabbed a drink and some stuff from the little containers of fruit, cheese and crackers that Renee left in the fridge and dropped into a chair. I was so mad at those idiots calling themselves coaches, but I was even angrier at Bella for staying there after all that crap. I understood why she did it, she was never one to be scared off by anyone getting a little physical, but this was different. These guys were out to hurt her for real. This wasn't like wrestling with me or one of the guys over a game controller.

When she got home, I was going to have to sit her down and explain to her that she didn't have anything to prove to those idiots. That team was going to be spending so much time in the box, they were destined to fail before they even started.

I put my plate and cup in the dishwasher and headed down to the basement to work off a little of the excess energy I was carrying with a bit of exercise while I waited for Birdy to get home.

I was doing push-ups when I heard the front door slam open and then Renee cursing under her breath. I chuckled a bit and stood to head up the stairs. Every time she came in with her hands full she'd send the door crashing into the wall when she hip-checked it open. I reached the front door just in time to catch the pack of paper towels from toppling off the pile of stuff Renee was trying to carry in the door.

"You know, you don't have to bring it in all at once, right?"

She cocked an eyebrow at me as I put the package on the floor near the door and headed out to unload the rest of whatever Renee had bought. I heard the phone begin ringing as I walked down the front walkway.

I opened the front door and carried the armful of stuff I'd retrieved into the kitchen. I looked over at Renee and froze when I saw the expression on her face. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open. Her hand was clutching the phone receiver so hard that her knuckles were turning white. My heartbeat did a weird stutter, then began thumping wildly. Something was very wrong, and I was fairly certain that Bella was involved.

"Yes, we'll be right there. Thanks for calling." Renee hung up the phone and blinked a couple of times before she shot into action.

"Emmett, call your father and tell him to meet us over at the hospital. Bella's been hurt. They said it's nothing too serious. Apparently she needs to make a statement to the police about whatever happened,but she needs an adult there with her before they will talk to her. I'm going to go grab anything perishable out of the car, so make some room in the fridge while you're on the phone so I can just stuff it all in there for now." She turned and practically sprinted out the front door.

I hit speed dial and spoke to Dad while shoving everything to the sides as much as possible on the fridge shelves. I'd just finished repeating that I didn't know what had happened because I left practice early when Renee came back in the kitchen and began shoving the packages of meat, chicken, pork, fruits, and vegetables in any available spot. I took the remaining items from her and passed her the phone to speak to Dad while I tried to find spaces for the rest of the food.

Renee quickly repeated everything I'd said and told Dad to drive safely, and we'd meet him at the hospital.

I grabbed a pair of sweat pants and a sweatshirt from the laundry room and threw them on over my tank top and shorts while Renee stood impatiently by the front door. By the time I'd slipped on my shoes, grabbed my coat and locked the front door, she was already in the car with the engine running.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Another protracted period between postings. More honest yet unfulfilling apologies. A Cullen Wannabe rocks my socks with her patience and because she always makes time for me. I hope this chapter gives you what you were hoping for. If not, please let me know.**

*~ATR~*

CHAPTER 15:

RENEE

I drove to the hospital as slowly and carefully as I could manage under the circumstances. Okay so I did about 10 over the speed limit and might have rolled through a couple of stop signs after making sure no one was coming, but I did so with the utmost care and attention. Emmett explained about what had happened at the practice and how he couldn't stand there and let it go on without wanting to smash someone's face in. He was doing a pretty good job of beating himself up over leaving Bella there to defend herself so I didn't bother mentioning that he really shouldn't have left. Left the ice, sure, but he should have stuck around the rink to keep an eye on things. I really couldn't put too much of this on his head though. We still didn't really know what had happened, we were just assuming the worst.

I pulled into the closest parking spot I could find. I hadn't even shifted into park before Emmett was out of the car and charging towards the Emergency Room entrance. I moved quickly, without running, but he was inside the building before I even made it half way across the parking lot with my not-quite-jog. When I walked through the automatic doors I followed Emmett's aggravated voice to the reception desk.

"But that's just stupid. I'm her brother, you can tell me where she is and what's wrong with her!"

"I'm sorry son," the elderly lady at the counter was saying to him. "We are only permitted to release that information to a parent or guardian." As I made my way across the foyer, I watched Emmett as he huffed in frustration and tried to control his temper.

"I'm her mother. My boy here is just a little faster on his feet than I am. Can you tell us where to find Isabella, please?"

After being buzzed in through the security door and following the color-coded sticker footprints on the floor, we made our way into the interior rooms of the hospital. When we finally reached the curtained-off area numbered 12, I could hear Bella and Rose speaking in hushed voices.

"Yeah, well, he deserved it," Rose muttered.

"For sure, but I was fine. Things were under control, sort of." Bella snapped.

I held an arm out in front of him and gave him my best "mom look" to stop Emmett before he barrelled in once he heard Rose's voice. I took a deep breath to steady my nerves and prepare myself for whatever injuries Bella was sporting this time. I pushed back the curtain and was surprised to find Rose up on the gurney and Bella sitting in her full equipment, minus skates, in the chair beside the bed with her feet up on the mattress.

"Okay, girls. Somebody please explain what's going on here."

Before either of them said a word, a voice coming from over my right shoulder caused me to start.

"Ms. Swan? I'm Officer Thompson. Can I have a word with you please?"

"It's Mrs. McCarty, I remarried," I corrected automatically. "Sure, sure."

I walked over to the desk where the young policeman stopped and turned to me.

"We're trying to find out what happened at the arena today, but we aren't getting a lot of cooperation. We would like to speak to Isabella regarding her recollection of the events. We'd appreciate it if you could speak with your daughter and encourage her to tell us the truth. The stories we've been given so far just don't match up with the evidence."

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't she tell you the truth? Isabella is a very reliable person and I have no reason to believe she'd lie to you."

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. That's not what I meant. We have three boys and two girls in this ER, and surprisingly, no one seems to know exactly how they ended up here. We'd just like to settle things."

"I'll see what I can do." I walked away and shooed Emmett out of the area to get me a coffee I didn't really want so that I could speak to the girls.

"Rose, have you spoken to the police yet?"

"Not yet. My Dad's on his way and they aren't supposed to talk to us without a parent present."

I turned my attention to Isabella who was squirming in her chair. "Ok, so what's going on?"

"I suppose Emmett already told you about what happened with some of the guys."

I nodded and she continued.

"Okay, so, they just kept pulling the same shit. Knocking us down, taking cheap shots, you know, being assholes."

"Isabella, watch your mouth."

"Sorry, Mom! This tiny girl got slew-footed by some of the guys who were acting like complete goons, and she got hurt. A couple of good guys helped her out, then Rambo over here decided to try and take a shot at his junk but got him in the gut instead. He took a guy out when he fell.

"I grabbed She-Ra and headed off the ice. I didn't see Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber even attempt to get a handle on things so I decided enough was enough. I had my back to them so I didn't see exactly what happened, I was kind of busy trying not to cry and give those jerks even more reason to tease me. Anyway, I didn't see a guy come up behind me, but someone pulled my foot back with their stick and I went down at an awkward angle. At first I thought my ankle was broken or something. It hurt like hell."

"Bella. Mouth!" I knew she was frustrated, but that was no excuse.

"Sorry! Anyway, one of the coach-wannabe's came on out the ice to check my foot and started yanking my skate off. Aro came over shooting his mouth off. I stopped Riley from popping him the mouth. I was distrated by the two idiots who were trying to wrestle off my skate, finally showing some concern now that there appeared to be a serious injury. Meanwhile, Rose was telling them to leave it on to contain the swelling and they were determined to take it off. Next thing I knew, I heard a smack and Rose was falling. She hit her head on the boards and then again on the bench before she ended up on the floor. Then there were fists flying and people everywhere. I didn't see a thing after that."

I looked to Rose who raised an eyebrow and nodded in confirmation.

I tried really hard not to lose my temper and hunt down the two imbeciles who were in charge of that farce of a tryout session. I composed myself and gave Rose a pointed look. "Did you see what happened, Rosalie? "

She laid her left hand on top of the thin blanket and surreptitiously crossed her fingers. "Nope, I'm a little fuzzy after banging my head and all."

"Uh-huh." I would get to the bottom of this later, but in the meantime I motioned for the officer to come over. "Do you want to speak to her now, right here?"

"Well, ideally we'd like to speak to them separately, Ma'am."

I gritted my teeth and smiled at him. I absolutely hated being called Ma'am. I let it go the first time, but it was one of those pet peeves that really drove me crazy.

"Actually, my curtain is over there." Rose motioned across the thin hallway. "I can just go back over there." She pushed the blanket off her legs and started to get out of the bed. She hadn't even made it a step before she was tilting awkwardly.

"Woah! Here Mom, take this." Emmett thrust the unwanted styrofoam cup into my hand and scooped Rosalie up.

"Put me down! I'm fine," Rosalie grumbled.

"You look pretty wobbly to me. Where are you going?" Emmett chuckled.

Rose pointed to the bed across the hall and Emmett walked over and placed her on it. Mr. Hale arrived just as the officer began to question Bella. I spied a telephone with a local only access and used it to call Garrett and tell him he didn't need to rush over, that things were under control. I'd caught him just as he was on his way out the door having had to reschedule a few appointments before he could leave. I told him he should just meet us at home.

I listened as Bella recounted her story to the officer. She told him about all of the stunts pulled on the ice and what she observed of the final events. I crossed the tiny hallway and spoke with Rose's father while the officer asked Bella a few questions about her statement. I watched as Emmett sat with Rose, completely captivated by her. He was so gone, but I didn't think he'd realized it yet. Once the officer was done with Bella, I set out to find a nurse or doctor to get a report on Bella's ankle so we could get out of here as soon as possible.

By the time the nurse from the desk located the doctor on call and informed him that the girls' parents had arrived, the officer was finished speaking with Rose. The doctor gave us care instructions for Bella's bruised, but thankfully not damaged ankle and gave Rose's dad instructions on what to watch out for in case of a mild head injury, and then we waited for the discharge paperwork.

Once we were ready to go, Bella and Rose made plans to speak on the phone later that evening. Emmett insisted on pushing the wheelchair that the hospital staff insisted Bella use and stayed in the entrance with Bella while I went to get the car.

The ride home was quiet, except for Emmett repeatedly asking Bella to try to remember what happened. She finally snapped and told him off. "EMMETT, I will tell you everything I can remember LATER, okay? I'm really TIRED and my leg is ACHING right now."

These girls hadn't fooled me at all. I knew they both knew exactly what happened, but for whatever reason, they weren't forthcoming. I know my girl. If she's holding back, there is likely a very good reason for it. She'd tell me eventually. She always did.

I pulled into the driveway and, again, Emmett was out of the car before the car was completely stopped. He opened the passenger door and practically hauled Bella out of her seat, carrying her with one arm under her legs and the other behind her back. She rolled her eyes at him and tried to look cross, but even biting her lip she couldn't hide her smile.

They often fought like cats and dogs when they were little, but the bond between those two kids was something strong and special. They may not be related by blood, but they each had a special place in the other's heart.

I followed them up the front steps. Emmett stepped aside so I could open the door and then swung Isabella around so he could enter sideways, narrowly missing smashing her injured ankle against the door jamb.

"What the hell? I thought you said she wasn't seriously hurt?" Garrett walked up the hallway to meet us while looking over Bella with a critical eye.

"She's not, Emmett's just being, uh, overly cautious." I shook my head and sunk my head onto my husband's chest as he wrapped me snugly in his arms. "It's just bruised. Nothing broken or sprained as far as they can tell."

"What the hell happened?"

Bella groaned, still held aloft by Emmett. "Can we do this later? Please. I just want to go lie down and put my foot up, okay?"

"Sure, sure. Sorry. I'll fill him in, you go get some rest." I stepped out of his arms and headed back to the kitchen. The almost-finished casserole my wonderful husband had been making sat on the counter and I busied myself topping it and putting it in the oven.

*~ATR~*

BELLA

I tried to be a good sport about Emmett's hovering because I knew that he meant well, but his constant presence was beginning to work my last nerve.

"Em, please, PLEASE, go somewhere and do something else for a bit. My pillows are plumped, there's a soft comforter folded under my foot to keep it elevated, I have a drink and a snack in case I get hungry, my book and notebook are within reach, and my radio is right here on my night table. I'm all set. Besides, all I really want to do is just take a little nap. I'm beat. Okay?"

I chose to ignore the fact that my burly brother was being so sweet and kind of looked like I kicked his puppy as he nodded and left the room.

I wiggled a little to get into a more comfortable position and closed my eyes. It didn't take long for the images to start replaying in my mind.

_The little verbal taunts as certain guys passed me or skated beside me were easy to ignore. The first intentional bump I took in stride. The tenth and eleventh points of physical contact less so. By the time Emmett lost his cool and stormed off the ice, closely followed by Jasper and Edward, I was furious and ready to spit nails. Unfortunately for me, fury almost always surfaces under a layer of tears. I struggled and lost the battle to keep them from falling as I watched Emmett tear out of the rink, only turning around long enough for me to glare at him. Nice of you to make a spectacle, ass. He narrowed his eyes and mouthed something that looked like "your funeral" at me. Great, thanks. That's helpful. Luckily for me, the only person who seemed to notice my tears was Riley and he just smiled at me. _

_Things only got worse once my brother and my pseudo-brothers were gone. Riley and a couple of other guys tried to stick up for me and Rose but they were outnumbered by the idiots. There was only so much they could do, especially since the sorry excuse for a coaching staff was intentionally ignoring their antics and laughing not-so-subtly behind their hands any time one of us ended up on our ass on the ice._

_One of the other girls who had left the ice returned after Em and the guys tore out of the arena and she continued to be harassed as well. I tried to keep an eye on Rose and warned her to keep her temper in check. The final straw was when Aro slew-footed the tiny girl who then landed awkwardly and crashed into the boards. Riley helped her up and off the ice since the staff still had their heads stuck in the sand._

_Rose wound up and took a slap shot hitting Aro straight in the gap between his chest protector and the waist padding of his pants. He dropped to the ice and his flying stick clattered across the ice taking out another one of his goons who landed awkwardly with his knee twisted under himself._

_"That's IT," I yelled as I grabbed Rose by the arm and spun her towards the doors. "It's time to get out of here. There is nothing worth this shit." Rose stepped off the ice and I had just shifted my weight to step up off the ice when my back foot, currently supporting all of my weight was kicked out from under me. I felt an odd twinge in my ankle as I landed and yelped in pain. Some kid was standing over me chuckling. _

_I tried to stand but the jolt of pain that shot up my leg stopped me cold. I swung my stick back as he tried to skate away, stick held over his head in some kind of victory dance, and hooked his ankle watching with perverse satisfaction as he landed face first. Dumbass hadn't put his arms down to break his fall._

_The "coaches" couldn't ignore the fact that they now had four people down on the ice. Rose started screaming at Mark and Cal that they better have their insurance paid up and threatening law suits while Riley and three other guys formed a protective ring around Rose and I to keep Aro, who had finally managed to stand erect, and his supporters away from us. All hell broke loose when facility staff from the rink arrived after being summoned by the fourth girl from the practice. They told Mark and Cal that not only had they called for ambulances, but the called the police as well._

_Rose and Riley helped me off the ice and over to a bench where I managed to wrangle my ankle to an elevated position. _

_Aro's final mistake was coming off the ice and whipping his helmet off while spouting off about girls being the "weaker sex" and "not knowing our place". I grabbed Riley's arm when I realized that he'd balled his hand into a fist and was getting ready to unload on Aro. I missed the fact that Rose was apparently doing the same thing because I was focused on the crowd of bodies in front of me, including players, coaches and the rink staff. From my periphery, a slender arm shot out connecting soundly with Aro's nose. Blood immediately spewed from his injured face. I heard rather than saw an impact behind me, then again beside me and then Rose was lying on the floor at my feet. Riley sprung across knocking a guy to the floor on his way across to get to Aro and swinging his fists repeatedly. In the ensuing bedlam, there were people on the ground and limbs flying every which way. The arena staff and Mark and Cal finally stepped in and separated the fighters sending everyone not directly involved to the change rooms just as the police arrived. After a quick round of preliminary questions from the medics and the police, Rose and I were loaded into separate ambulances. As we were pulling out, I saw more paramedics arrive. _

*~ATR~*

I was startled awake by knocking at my door. I tried to get my bearings and realized it had gotten quite late since my room was quite dark, though not completely. "Yeah?"

The doorknob turned and the door opened just enough for Emmett to stick his head in, looking at me warily. "I know you said you wanted to be left alone for a bit, but Riley's been downstairs for over an hour now. He says he's not leaving until he sees you. Do you want me to help you downstairs?"

I tried push myself up and immediately let my head drop back down after a wave of nausea washed over me. "Um, can you ask Mom if it's okay if he just comes up here? I don't think getting up is a good idea right now."

"Sure, no problem." He turns to walk away then pokes his head back in. "So, Riley filled us in on what happened. I'm so sorry that we left like that. I never have should have left you to deal with that shit alone. I never thought those jackasses would go that far, or that the sorry excuse for coaches would let them get away with it."

He walked in and looked around awkwardly for a moment before deciding to kneel beside my bed. I guess he was afraid of shifting the bed and making me more uncomfortable. I looked down and wiggled my foot a bit, wincing at the stab of pain it caused. Looking back at Emmett, I had to bite my lip to keep from bursting into tears. He looked absolutely miserable. In fact, he looked like HE might burst out in tears at any time. The tormented look on his face was so out of place on my gigantic bear of a brother who was usually intentionally goofy, happy and smiling.

"Stop it, Em! None of this is your fault!" I reached out and grabbed his hand to try and comfort him.

"Yeah, well, it never would have gotten this far if I was there." He watched my hand as I squeezed his gently. "I'm sorry, Little Bird. I'll never let anything like this happen to you again. Those assholes are going to find out what happens when they mess with my family."

"NO. I mean it Emmett. Leave it alone. I'm pretty sure those guys are going to get theirs, one way or another. People like them usually pick the wrong person to mess with eventually."

"Yeah, they just did." He was squeezing my hand back now, and it was getting uncomfortably tight.

"No. Leave it. I mean it. If I hear about you getting in the middle of this crap, then I WILL be pissed at you. Got it?" I flexed my hand a bit to alleviate the pressure and he immediately let go.

"Shit! Sorry! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Now promise me, Em. Promise you'll leave it alone." He scowled at me for a moment before agreeing. "Good. Now can you please send Riley up?"

I leaned over and reached for the water on my nightstand, trying not to jiggle my ankle. I had just swallowed the last drop when my door re-opened and Riley's head popped through the opening. His eyes were closed as he joked, "Are you decent in here, because I won't mind in the least if you're not."

I chucked one of the decorative pillows from my bed at him missing by a mile. "Nope, completely indecent, as always."

Opening his eyes and pushing the door open, he laughed at my lame joke.

I sucked in a breath as I noticed the sling and bandages on his right arm. "Oh crap! Are you okay?"

"What this," he motioned with his injured arm, "it's fine. My wrist just got a little tired so I've put it to bed for a nap."

"Riley..."

"It's fine Bella, just a sprain and a few scrapes." He looked around my room then walked over to my desk, dragging my chair back to sit beside my bed. "So how are you feeling?"

"My ankle is throbbing, and it hurts like hell to move it, but it's not badly injured. The doctor said something about most of the pain being because of the swelling."

"That's good."

An uncomfortable silence settled around us as we sat looking at anything but each other. I traced the pattern on my comforter with my finger and tried to think of something clever to say to diffuse the tension. Unfortunately for me, quick-witted comments weren't often readily available in my thoughts.

"So, can I call you my bodyguard now?" Oh, boy. That was so lame. There had to be something better than that to say.

Riley's gentle laughter made me relax. "Nah, I think that job is already taken."

"Yeah. Emmett's a bit crazy right now. He'll go back to being a big marshmallow soon enough."

"Right, but I meant Edward. I think the position of your bodyguard is already filled." His shaggy blonde hair swung back in forth in time with the shaking of his head from side to side.

"What do you mean?" I tried to sit up but flopped back pretty quickly, frustrated with the limitations of my injury.

"Well, after Em came back downstairs and told your Mom that you asked if I could come up instead of you going down, he told Edward and Jasper that you made him promise that he wouldn't go after Aro and his pack of idiots. Edward said he agreed with you not wanting Emmett to get into any trouble, but he started laughing and said that he was glad you hadn't made him make any promises."

"Oh boy. That's not good. I hope he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Edward? Are we talking about the same guy? The one who thought that trying to ride down the steepest part of Eagle Ridge Road, skeleton style, on his skateboard was a perfectly reasonable idea? Yeah. He'd never do anything stupid."

"Damn it! You go get him and make him come up here, right now!"

Riley stood and leaned over me, kissing me on my forehead. I was so caught off-guard that I just blinked up at him stupidly.

"You got it. I'm glad you're not too badly injured, though I think that ankle is going to keep you laid up for a few days." He was out the door and in the hallway before I had the presence of mind to call out to him.

"Riley!"

"Yes, Bella?"

"I just wanted... Uh, I mean... Thanks. For standing up for me, I mean. I just... Yeah, thanks."

"You're welcome." He winked at me before turning away and heading downstairs.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Do I really need to say it every chapter? I don't own Twilight, everything Twilight belongs to SM. This story, however, is mine. It is inspired by personal experiences and those of people near and dear to me. Gracious thanks to the lovely A Cullen Wannabe for always making time to correct my horrendous comma issues.**

**Onward.**

*~ATR~*

CHAPTER 16:

EDWARD

The more Riley talked, the angrier I got. Not at him, necessarily, because he did protect Bella even though it should have been _our_ job. Okay, technically, it should have been Emmett's job, but I should have stayed too. Jasper could have gone with Em to keep him out of trouble. One of us should have stayed behind to make sure she was okay. All right, so I was also a little pissed off that he came off like some kind of hero.

When Emmett went upstairs to let Bella know he was here, I couldn't stop glaring at him. I know he was aware of it, but he was smart enough not to call me out on it. I was so pissed that I was likely to snap on the first person who gave me half a reason.

When Em came back down, he had to wait a moment to speak to Renee to ask if Riley could go up to Bella's room because she was pacing furiously up and down the hallway while on the phone handing some school representative their ass. He got impatient and scratched out a note that he waived under her nose. She nodded and waived at Riley then pointed towards the stairs. I had to bite my tongue to keep from spouting something about how wildly inappropriate it was. Riley had never really shown any interest in Bella other than friendship, but that didn't mean I trusted him to be alone in her room with her.

As Riley got up off the couch to head up, Emmett told us that Bella had made him promise not to go after Aro.

"She's right. You can't afford to get into trouble right now. She's going to need you around to watch out for her until things die down." I continued, muttering under my breath. "Good thing she didn't say anything about me going after him."

I glared at Riley's back as he ascended the stairs. "Make sure you don't let him stay up there too long," I instructed. "She needs her rest. I need to head home. I've got some thinking to do."

Emmett just chuckled and shook his head as I pushed myself up off the couch and headed home to plot way to make Aro's life miserable.

By the time I'd walked to my house, my feet were tired and my mind was twisted up in knots with all kinds of ideas of how to exact revenge in Bella's name.

I barely had my foot inside the door when my mom called my name. I kicked off my sneakers and sauntered into the family room where my parents were sitting side-by-side on the couch. Mom had a pair of my jeans in her lap. It looked like she had been repairing the pocket I'd practically ripped off when it got caught on a chain link fence I'd climbed over. Dad was reading the paper and watching some special news report. I didn't miss the relief that was displayed on each of their faces.

"What's up?"

"Where have you been, Edward?" My Dad gave me his patented 'I'm waiting to judge the sincerity of your words' look, raised eyebrow and all.

"I was over at Emmett's. I told you that." I had called my Mom at work and given her a brief explanation of what had happened when I got home, before she heard it from someone else. Bad news travels fast, and I'd learned that it was always better to pre-empt a panicked mother by explaining my side of things quickly. I told her when I left that I was going to Emmett's as soon as he had called and told us what had happened after we left.

"Yes, but Bella called over an hour ago asking to speak with you 'before you did something stupid'. She told me you'd left before she'd had a chance to speak to you. She has also been calling every fifteen minutes or so sounding increasingly upset with each call. What's going on?" My mother gave me her version of the same look Dad was giving me. I tried not to smile at how absolutely ridiculous their identical expressions were before I responded.

"An hour? Well, I walked home, so that takes a bit, and I didn't really take the most direct route through the park either. I wandered around a bit. I didn't realize that I'd taken that long, but that does explain why my feet hurt." I dropped into the arm chair facing the TV and curled my toes into the carpet, stretching out the tendons and muscles.

"Why is Bella so worked up?"

I sighed before answering. I could make something up, but there was really no point. I was pretty sure they already knew why. "She's probably thinking that I went after Aro. You know, to get even."

"Edward, under no circumstances are you to engage in any kind of retaliation with that boy, or anyone else involved. Do you understand?" My father's voice had taken on an edge that I didn't like hearing. It didn't come out too often, but it was his commanding tone and the way that he delivered it that enforced the seriousness of the manner.

"Fine. I won't go after him. _Physically._" I coughed the last word under my breath. I had every intention of making sure that jerk didn't mess with our girls again. I just had to get a little more creative.

"Okay, I think you better call Bella before she works herself into a worse state." Mom reached over and patted my arm before turning her attention back to her sewing.

Once I got to my bedroom, I changed into a pair of flannel pants and a tank top undershirt before stretching out on my bed and reaching for the phone hanging on my wall.

"Hello? Edward? Is that you?" Bella's voice was clearly agitated. Crap. I hadn't meant to upset her. I'd just lost track of time while inventing ways to get Aro.

"Hi, Lil' Bird. Yeah, it's me. Calm down, would ya? I just took the scenic route. No idiots were harmed during the trip from your house to mine."

"Oh, good. You had me worried. Riley said you were all pissed off and then you left before he got downstairs to tell you I wanted to talk to you. I never got a chance to tell you that I want you all to leave it alone. Just let it go. Okay? Please? For me?"

"Bella, relax. You're completely over-reacting." I stalled trying to think of a way to word my response so that I wasn't actually lying. "Okay, you win. I promise I won't lay a hand on Aro, okay?"

"On any of them. I mean it." Her voice had lost the edge of panic.

"Fine," I huffed. "I won't hit any of them." I didn't say I wasn't going to do _anything_. I just said I wouldn't _touch_ them. That still left me plenty of ways to make them pay.

She yawned and I told her that I'd let her go get some rest and to not worry about me.

I had no idea why the fact that she had been so worried about me made me feel so good.

*~ATR~*

BELLA

Thankfully, I was finally able to walk on my own two feet. While the rest of the school had thought that the insistence of my guys to piggy-back me around was funny, I found it mortifying. Yes, I was useless on the crutches, but I could have dealt with it for a few days. But no, the boys decided that clinging to them was a better idea. Honestly, I didn't mind the opportunity to _accidentally_ cop a feel of Edward's strong shoulders and Riley's toned chest, but it wasn't worth the embarrassment.

I walked into the school with Rose beside me and was immediately struck by the sight of Aro's locker. The door was unlocked and open. It appeared as though every page had been torn out of each notebook and crushed into little paper balls. There were several rude slogans and curse words written in various coloured Sharpie all over the interior and exterior of the door.

I knew who the likely culprits were. I had forbidden them from retaliating but apparently hadn't been specific enough. All week long things had been happening to Aro and his pals' things. Aro's car developed engine trouble. Colour me shocked that Riley and the rest of his mechanical shop friends couldn't seem to find a problem with it when they were accused of tampering with it. There were lockers whose contents were mysteriously soaked with water between classes. The underside of car door handles were coated in what I really hoped was Vaseline. Many pranks were played, but there were no physical altercations. Aro and his friends made accusations, but they had no proof. My best guess was that there were a few people who were in on the planning, and for the most part, the other students turned a blind eye.

It had taken me a few days to realize that I had developed a duplicate shadow. My brother had arranged with a group of our friends so that Rose and I were never alone. Seriously. The only place I had some peace was the bathroom, and it's not exactly like I could hang out in there. You've been in high school. You know what those bathrooms are like. Eww. I tried appealing to their common sense. It had been a while, and other than glares and snarls, Aro and his cohorts hadn't paid me any unexpected attention. I begged Em to call off the dogs, but he was having none of it.

The upside was getting to know some of the other guys better. Aside from Jasper and Edward, I really hadn't had all that much interaction with their other friends. I mean, I knew them, but I didn't _know _them. You know?

Riley ended up being one of the guys I spent quite a bit of time with. He was so cute. He'd always been handsome, but he was also just really endearing. Despite the fact that he was growing like a bamboo shoot, he was thoughtful and introspective. Spending time with him was always interesting. He had a crazy amount of random information floating around in his grey matter. Some of the facts he spouted off were just plain mind-boggling.

Riley had mysteriously quit most of his after school activities and started spending an inordinate amount of time hanging around with me. I told him he didn't have to do it and that I told Emmett and the guys that they could back off, but he said he just liked spending time with me. He made me feel awful when he first assumed that I was sick of him and didn't want him around. It was a week before I could convince him that it wasn't like that. If he wanted to be friends, that was fine with me. Rose had been tutoring a couple of kids in math so she wasn't around as much. Alice had taken up vintage clothing shopping like it was her vocation. I had extra time on my hands and spending it with Riley wasn't a bad way to spend a day. I just hadn't wanted him to feel like he _had_ to hang out with me if he didn't want to. We spent a lot of after-school afternoons watching the various sports teams practice or going to their games.

Riley really seemed to like the girl's basketball games. I finally realized that there was more to his insistence on catching every game than just an overwhelming love for the game of basketball. We were in my basement waiting for the other guys to get home so that we could have a games night when Riley had first accidentally slipped up and I realized the gigantic crush he had on a girl at school. I didn't know Victoria well, but I had heard that she had recently broken up with her long-time boyfriend. This was the information that Riley had been fishing for. Apparently, he had been pining after her for over a year, but since she had a boyfriend, he'd only watched and admired her from afar.

It took me a couple of days, and some discreet inquiries, to find out that it was definitely over for good and get a hold of her unlisted phone number. It took me a couple of _weeks_ to convince Riley to try and talk to her. I swear that boy's self esteem was ridiculously lacking considering his attractiveness. I was constantly dropping little reminders and ego boosting comments to try and pump him up enough to give her a call.

The day he finally told me he was ready to make the call, I was nearly ready to jump out of my skin. The anticipation was killing me. I hoped that at the very least she would let him down gently if she wasn't interested. Like I said, I didn't really know her, but she didn't seem to be mean from what I had observed.

After school that day, he begged me to come back to his house with him while he made the call. He pulled out all the stops and made puppy dog eyes until the guilt trip was unbearable. We walked home with my arms wrapped around his right forearm trying to keep him from bolting into the bushes to puke. Well, that's what he was threatening to do anyway. I was pretty sure he was just trying to keep himself distracted with his usual humour.

We dropped our backpacks by the front door and kicked off our shoes. When he got to the kitchen, Riley pulled out some cookies and a glass of milk for me to snack on while he went straight over to the phone on the wall and dialed painfully slowly. I dipped my cookie in the cold milk and watched his face carefully to try and gauge how the conversation was going.

"Uh, hi. Um, good afternoon. Can I please speak to Victoria, please?" I resisted the urge to giggle at his nervous babbling. He sat and waited for only a moment before he started rolling his shoulders. The stress was practically radiating off of him.

"Oh, yeah. It's Riley. Riley Biers." He started bouncing his right knee so fast I was half expecting it to launch into the air. "Um, no Ma'am, I don't think she knows me. We go to the same school. Yes Ma'am, I'll hold."

He looked up at me with barely controlled panic in his eyes.

I whispered, "Down boy, it will be fine," before reaching over and laying my hand on his back between his shoulder blades and rubbing gently.

"Hi Victoria, this is Riley, Riley Biers. We go the same school and... Uh, yeah. Yes, that's me." He turned to me with comically wide eyes and mouthed "_She knows who I AM,_" to me before turning his attention back to the phone.

I listened intently to the one half of the conversation I could hear. It sounded to me like things were going much better than I expected as they made plans to eat lunch together the next day at school and tentatively made plans to go see a movie this weekend. I was grinning like a fool by the time he got off the phone and had to press my hands over my mouth to keep in the girly squeal that wanted to erupt from my mouth to express the joy I was experiencing on behalf of my friend.

He hung up the phone and sat there on the floor for a moment not moving, not even blinking. I couldn't help myself. I tried to hold it in, I really did, but I couldn't do it.

"Oooh, someone is in love!"

His eyes snapped to mine and he shook his head a bit before responding. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Your face is all flushed, your eyes are shining so bright they could light up the block, and you look like you pretty much swallowed your own damn tongue! You're, you're... twitterpated!" I was laughing so hard by the time I finished my sentence I wasn't even sure if he had been able to understand a word out of my mouth.

"Twitterpated?"

"Yes, twitterpated." I let out the most undignified snort as I tried to calm my raging giggle-fit.

"Who the hell are you, Thumper?" His expression was incredulous but the fact that he even knew what I was talking about sent me off the deep end again. I ended up lying on my side on the floor because I could no longer hold myself upright due to my guffawing.

"Wow, that's some really unattractive laughing there, Bells. You have come with me to babysit my cousins. You are aware that they are on a serious Bambi kick right now. I think I know that movie off by heart by now."

"Aww, lookie, my little Bambi has found his doe. Somebody call Uncle Walt!" I have no idea why I had suddenly turned into a five year-old but I couldn't stop with the friendly ribbing.

"Okay, Thumper. If you're going to rain on my parade, you're gonna have to go!" He stood up and hauled me out of my chair, shoving me gently toward the front door.

I didn't put up much of a fight because I had only planned on staying long enough to lend my support during the phone call anyway. I had a report to write that needed to be handed in the next day and I still had a lot of work to do. I put on my shoes and grabbed my backpack and pulled open the door.

I turned and wrapped my arms around Riley's waist as he stood holding the screen door open and smiled up at him. "I'm seriously happy for you my friend. It sounds like she wasn't so oblivious to your existence, huh?"

He gave me a brilliant smile as he dropped his chin on my forehead and let out a deep breath. "No, I guess not. That's, just, awesome."

I dropped my arms and stepped backwards down the first couple of stairs. I couldn't resist a parting shot. As I reached the bottom of the stairs and started backing down the walkway I yelled out, "I'm so proud, my little Bambi's in _love_."

He laughed loudly shaking his head. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go home, Thumper. I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for everything."

I turned to head down the driveway after giving him a small wave.

I saw Edward up the block walking at a fairly quick pace. "Hey, Edward! Edward! Wait up! I'll walk with you," I called. He must not have heard me because he moved even faster and rounded the corner long before I could catch up.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Yep, still no predictability to my updates. I thank each and every person who stays with it and reads this story, even with all of its fits and spurts! I appreciate it more than I can adequately express.**

**Much gratitude to A Cullen Wannabe for being so generous with her time and encouragement. She never berates me for making the same mistakes! I promise, I will get better... eventually. )**

**The names do not belong to me, but everything else does!**

**CHAPTER 17:**

**EDWARD**

I scanned the area quickly to see if anyone was around to see before I jogged across Mr. Green's lawn and through his backyard. I hopped over the back fence of Mrs. Thompson's house, the little old lady who hardly ever ventures outdoors, then ran quickly up the side of her house and out onto the next street. This short-cut saved me from having to walk all the way to the end of my street and then around the corner and back up the next street on my way over to Emmett's house. I'd only been caught once, and thankfully the old lady didn't kick up to much of a fuss when I told her I was just looking for my escaped house cat that I was sure I had just seen running through her yard. I don't actually have a cat, but she didn't need to know that.

I moved up the street, planning to cut through the schoolyard ahead to shave off a few more minutes. I was running mostly watching my feet but looked up quickly to check my surroundings when I saw something that almost made me trip over my own shoes. Bella was standing on Riley's front porch. Correction, Bella was standing _wrapped around_ Riley, on his front porch. I stopped in my tracks trying to process what I was seeing.

I gave my head a shake sure I was seeing things. I did a double-take and sure enough, there they were. Bella's arms were wrapped around Riley and his around her. He had the goofiest look on his face. The best comparison I could think of is that it was the same look my Dad had in my parents' engagement photo. Mom described it as his love-struck face.

My chest suddenly felt tight and my hands balled into fists. It took a moment before I realized I was standing in the middle of the sidewalk gawking at them. I thought about turning around and heading back the way I had come, but then decided to charge forward. I picked up my pace when I registered Bella's voice calling my name. There was no way in hell I wanted to speak to her right now. What I WANTED to do was run across the street and slam both of my fists deep into Riley's chest.

I began to jog but I could hear Bella's quickening footsteps coming up behind me. I sped up to a flat out run. I ran straight past the McCarty house and tried to decide where I was going to go now. I figured the next closest place would be Jasper's house. If I could get there before he left for Emmett's I could convince them to change plans for the afternoon. We could stay at Jazz's place or shoot some hoops. Anything to keep me from facing Bella today. I was irrationally angry and I needed to blow off some steam.

I pushed myself to the limit. Moving faster, pushing tired muscles beyond where they were used to being. As I sprinted around the side of the school, I noticed Jessica and Tanya along with some of the guys standing around in the school yard. I slowed my pace as I approached them. As always, the two under-dressed, over-flirty girls made a big fuss over me. People think I don't notice now that I'm starting to fill out after my recent growth spurt that the girls are paying more attention to me. I notice, I just don't care. Correction. Didn't care. I suddenly felt like having them pay me some attention for a change might be a great idea. If Riley can enjoy a pretty girl wrapping herself around him, maybe I should give it a shot as well.

I took the bottle of water offered to me and downed it, purposely letting some of the water flow down my chin and down my chest, soaking the front of my tank top. I felt more than hear Bella's arrival behind me.

"Hey Edward, heading over to hang out with Em?"

I didn't even turn around. I didn't know if I could handle it. My mind insisted on playing visions of her and Riley over and over.

"Nah, I'm gonna hang out here with Tan and Jess, if that's ok with you ladies."

The both started giggling and it took all of my control not to roll my eyes at them. Bella didn't leave right away so I moved closer to the girls. I touched Tanya's arm and ran my fingers down her forearm before letting my hand fall to my side. I used my other hand to finger a piece of Jessica's hair and move it back behind her shoulder.

"Oh. Uh, okay. I just thought Em said you guys were coming over today," I heard the confusion and imagined a tone of disappointment.

"Yeah, well, plans change." I needed her to leave. I wanted to grab her and shake her. I wanted to ask her why she would touch Riley like that. Why not me?

My train of thought shocked me. She needed to get out of my personal space so I could think.

I mustered my most biting tone. "Is there something you need, Bella? I'm kinda busy here. Why don't you just get lost, go home or something?"

I heard her gasp and felt a twinge in my chest. I could see Jess and Tanya's eyes get wide in shock. Then they started to smirk at her and raised their eyebrows as if challenging her in some way.

She didn't say anything else and I heard the small stones on the pavement scrape under her shoes as she spun on her heel and left.

I tolerated Jessica toying with the strap of my shirt and Tanya's chattering only as long as I needed to be sure that Bella was long gone. A few of the other guys were looking at me strangely and didn't appear to be very happy that I'd gotten all of their attention. I grabbed the basketball from where it'd been resting on the ground and moved toward the court asking the guys, "Who wants to play?" I lost myself in the rhythm of the game.

I spent the next few days dodging Emmett. He called and invited me over and I lied and told him I had other plans. At school, when the classes we had together let out, I made like a track star and sprinted out of the room as soon as the bell rang. He's asked me a few times what my problem was. He even went so far to apologize for whatever it is he'd done. I felt like a jerk because it really didn't have anything to do with him. I just couldn't seem to separate him from Bella. They'd become some kind of package deal in my mind.

The few times I crossed paths with Riley, I kept my head down and didn't make eye contact. I didn't know what the hell was wrong with me, but I swore if that guy even looked at me wrong, I'd kick his ass.

Bella tried to engage me in conversation several times, but I just ignored her. I huffed at her hurt expressions. If she wanted someone to talk to so badly, I'm sure Riley would be thrilled to occupy her time. Bella tracked me down at lunch one day and bluntly asked me what my problem was. I laughed her off and took my food outside to eat. I couldn't sit down because Emmett was already at the table and I could tell from the look on his face he'd had enough of my shit.

I spent as much time between classes as I could outside, at the far edge of the fields. Nobody bothered to walk over this far and I was pretty shitty company these days anyway. On several occasions, I noticed another chick hanging around with Bella and Riley. I'd seen her around before, because she was on some sports team or another. I shook my head and wondered why Bella didn't tell her to take off so she could have some private time with her boyfriend.

Finally, Friday afternoon rolled around and I was one class away from being able to hide out in my house all weekend. I considered asking if we could go visit great aunt Helen just so I didn't have to worry about Emmett or Jasper showing up at my door to confront me.

My shoulder bumped someone as I walked down the hall and I looked up quickly to apologize. What I saw had me seeing red and throwing my fist before my brain had a chance to catch up. I connected a solid right to Riley's jaw and his arms slipped away from the redhead he'd just been leaning his body over up against her locker. That method of disconnecting his mouth from hers was very satisfying, but it was followed by a pain shooting straight up my forearm from my knuckles.

The sounds of shouting carried over the scrambling bodies trying to either get out of the way of the action or vying for a better vantage point.

The redhead fell to her knees, grabbing at Riley and pulling him back into her chest as he thrashed and tried to kick out at me.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Cullen?" He pressed the back of his hand against where my fist landed and ran his tongue around the inside of his mouth, presumably to check for damage.

Before I could move towards him, strong arms wrapped around me from behind and Emmett spoke in my ear. "I don't know what has crawled up your ass and died, but you need to get the hell out of her right now. Teachers are coming."

"Sure, sure. Let me go. I'm finished here."

I shrugged my way out of his hold and found Bella standing beside him, a shocked expression on her face.

"You should keep better track of your boyfriend," I muttered as I pushed past her and jogged down the hallway and out of the building.

*~ATR~*

BELLA

What the hell? I must have heard that wrong. Why on earth would Edward think I had a boyfriend? I turned back from watching him book it down the hallway. Victoria was cradling Riley's face in her hands. He smiled tenderly at her before gently moving her hands away. As he stood up and straightened his jacket, it hit me. Edward thought Riley was _my _boyfriend. He thought he'd caught him cheating on me. That must have been why he'd been acting like a complete lunatic all week. We'd all been hanging out while the two lovebirds got to know each other. Heaven knows why they'd insisted on me being the oddball on these little excursions. I didn't know if it was because they felt less pressure while getting to know each other with me there, or whether they just didn't want to ditch me now that they were together since I'd helped them connect.

I dropped my head back in frustration. Great, now, not only did I have one over-protective type to keep tabs on me whenever I _did _start dating. I had two. Perfect.

I guess in a way it was kind of cute that Edward was so concerned about my feelings that he felt it was necessary to defend my honour or something, but if he was going to behave this way when I didn't actually have a boyfriend, I could only imagine what he was going to be like when I did.

"You need to set him straight."

I looked up into Emmett's frowning face.

"Yeah, ya think? I have one brother, I don't need another."

Emmett raised an eyebrow at me and shool his head. "No, that's not what I meant."

"What are you talking about? You guys can't just go around beating up guys because you think I'm dating them. That's just ridiculous!" I pressed my palms to my thighs after realizing I'd been flinging my arms around like a crazy person.

"You two. I just. Never mind, yeah, whatever." He ran his palm over his face as though he was trying to wipe something off.

"What are you going on about?" I was puzzled by his behaviour.

"Just," he huffed before continuing, "just tell him that Riley is not now, nor has he _ever_ been your boyfriend. I have a feeling that might go a long way towards fixing things."

He patted me on the shoulder much harder than necessary before heading down the hall.

I took the long walk from school over to Edward's house. I wished I had just left my backpack at school because my history book was poking me in the rib most of the walk and my shoulder was aching. His mother answered the doorbell and smiled at me as she opened the door.

"Hi, is he home?" I felt out of place and had to force myself to look her in the face as I spoke. I wondered what she thought about his friend's sister showing up on her doorstep.

She wiped her hands on the dishtowel she was carrying and looked back at the stairs before answering me. "I'm supposed to tell you he's not home if you come by."

I rolled my eyes before I realized that it was probably a very rude thing to do. "Sorry," I said. She waved off my apology. "I've got some more work to do getting dinner ready." She stepped back, holding the door open. I hadn't actually been invited in, but she was looking at me expectantly. I stepped forward and she closed the screen door behind me.

"I'm sure you can find what you're looking for on your own." She gave me a weird little wink before she headed for the kitchen.

What is with everybody being so weird today? I set my backpack down on the floor in the foyer and toed off my shoes. I could hear loud, angry music from upstairs and figured that must be where Edward was. I followed the sound up the stairs to the second door on the right. The door was covered in stickers and pictures of cars.

I put my ear close to the door but all I heard is music. If Edward was in there, I couldn't hear him. I raised my fist and knocked twice. I waited for a response, but there isn't one. After a minute, I knocked again, harder.

"I'm not hungry, Mom and I don't want to talk about it right now, okay?" He sounded funny, and it made my heart lurch uncomfortably. He's not _crying_ is he? Damn it, I bet he'd done some serious damage to his hand and he was too stubborn to admit it.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: I had to get a little help with this one from Project Team Beta. The lovely and talented A Cullen Wannabe has plenty of her own to deal with! Thanks to everyone who sticks with me on this journey without complaint over the sporadic updates. I really appreciate every single one of you.**

**CHAPTER 18: **

BELLA

I stood outside his bedroom door a moment more, trying to conclusively identify the sounds Edward was making. I stepped forward, grabbing the doorknob. I released the doorknob and took a step back. I repeated the motion several times before I decided that knocking again and telling him who was bothering him would be my best option.

I took a deep breath as my knuckles made contact with the wood. I knocked hard to be sure that he could hear me.

"Edward, it's me, Bella. Please open the door."

I felt movement against the door and realized that the reason I could hear the sniffling sounds over the loud music was because Edward had been sitting with his back against the door. Probably to keep intruders, like me, out. I heard him blow out a deep breath through his nose, but he didn't speak.

"Edward. Open the door."

I waited almost a full minute before I raised my hand and knocked, hard, at about the height I figured his forehead would be if he was leaning with it on the door. From the slight shadow under the door, I could tell where he was standing, approximately.

"Go away, Bella."

"No. You know how stubborn I can be. I'll just hang out here until you talk to me." I sat down on the floor and could then see that he was definitely standing and facing the door.

I watched the shadows of his feet move away and disappear from view. I tried hard not to be offended that he didn't want to speak to me, but I failed. I felt the telltale burning under my eyelids. Pushing myself up off the floor, I turned away and considered leaving.

The volume of the music in the room dwindled before I heard the turning of the knob and the click of the door opening behind me. "Bella?"

I rolled from the one shoulder I'd been leaning against the wall with so that now both shoulders were pressed against the wall. I watched my toes scrunching in the carpet as I tried to decide what to say. This seemed like a good idea before, but now that he was in front of me, I was afraid to look up at him. I felt guilty. I had no idea why. I never asked him to defend me.

He sighed and grabbed my elbow, dragging me into his bedroom.

"Door stays open!" his mother yelled from downstairs.

My eyes grew wide and my mouth dropped open when I processed her words.

Edward scoffed and I looked up at him as he let go of me and fell back flat onto his unmade bed. I let my eyes wander around the room, still wary to look at him for some reason. His room was messy, not dirty, but there were clothes, books, CDs and video game cassettes laying all over the room.

I finally peeked over at him and took note of his red-rimmed eyes and wrinkled forehead. He was staring at the ceiling fan above his bed while frowning hard.

The only word that I could speak was the one word running around and around in my brain. "Why?"

"I don't know!" he half-grumbled at me. "I just saw him on her, and you're always with him, and I thought, but then you... and I... I just... Hell, Bella, I don't know. Your boyfriend should NOT be kissing other girls. That's just not right. Okay?"

I shook my head and laughed sadly. "He's not my boyfriend."

His eyes flashed with something as they connected with mine. I couldn't name that look, but a chill worked its way up my spine. "What?"

"He's not my boyfriend," I repeated slowly. "I mean, he's a boy, obviously, and he's my friend. Just like you. But I don't have a boyfriend."

"Like me..." His eyes drifted off toward a frame sitting on his bedside table. He stared at it a bit, and I tried to tilt my head so that I could see it, but it wasn't possible from this angle. "But you two have been attached at the hip lately."

It wasn't really a question, but I understood what he was getting at.

"Yeah, look, you can't spread this around, okay? It's not my story to tell, really. Riley told me about a girl he'd been crushing on — Victoria. He asked me to help him get to know her. Who knew he was such a chicken shit." I smiled, thinking of how he'd turned into a bumbling fool the first few times he tried to come up with things to say to her.

"Oh," he mumbled. For some reason, the tips of his ears and high up on his cheekbones were turning red. I didn't find his room particularly warm, but I guess he did.

"Yeah, well, you can't just go around hitting people, Edward."

That reminded me that I wanted to make sure he hadn't hurt himself. I stepped forward and reached for his hand before I noticed him flinch. I stopped moving and looked at his hands, and though his right hand seemed to be a bit red, it didn't appear to be injured. He was making fists with his hands, forcing them flat, and then he would clench them again.

I continued on. "Eventually, I will actually find somebody willing to date me, and I already have Emmett ready to make it a miserable experience for the poor soul. I don't want you to go all 'big brother' on me too, okay? I would like to have a boyfriend at some point before I become an old maid."

I was looking at my hands, ripping at my fingernails while I finished speaking, so he surprised me by leaping off the bed and grabbing my shoulder.

"Is that what you think I was doing?" His eyes were travelling back and forth between mine. His intensity shocked me. "I'm being your _brother_?"

"Well, yeah. What else would it be?"

He stepped back away from me, and I missed the small contact. He shook his head and lifted his arms, lacing the fingers of both hands behind his neck. "Nothing, nothing at all."

"Edward," I began, wanting to ask him what I was missing. Obviously there was something.

"Bella," his mother called from downstairs. "Emmett and Garrett are here to pick you up."

"Edward?"

He dropped his arms and shook his head.

"Go home, Bella. I won't chase away any of your boyfriends." He brushed past me and walked down the hall to what I assumed was the bathroom and closed the door.

I rolled my eyes at his back as he walked away. I said goodbye and thank you to his mother, grabbed my bag, put on my shoes, and walked out the front door.

*~ATR~*

ELIZABETH

I could hear my son coming before he'd even reached the top of the driveway. I was concerned immediately because Edward only spoke to himself aloud when he was extremely upset. I placed the day's mail back on the hall table and watched as he stomped up the front walkway and practically threw himself into the house, door banging behind him. His face was red and blotchy, brows pinched together, and he was scowling something fierce.

"What's wrong, honey?" I asked.

He jerked back a bit, not having realized I was standing in front of him, as he kicked off his shoes. He turned away from me and shoved his bag into the closet.

"Nothing. I just did something stupid. Again."

"What did you do? Is everything okay?" I reached out to offer him some comfort but he twisted away from me and headed up the stairs.

"I'm just an idiot. Can we talk about it later?" he asked, not turning back to speak to me. "I don't want to talk to anyone right now. Just, if anybody comes by, I'm not here. Please?"

At the last word, he turned around and gave me a pleading look. I really wanted to push the issue, but I knew I'd get nowhere until he'd had a chance to calm down. Whatever had happened was bothering him a great deal.

The door to his room closed hard, not a slam, but not gently either. Turning back to the kitchen, I pulled the thawed meat out of the fridge and set it on a plate before washing my hands and grabbing the dish cloth to dry them. The doorbell rang and I could see Bella standing at the door as I walked. She looked irritated, and I wondered if she would tell me what was going on with my son.

She asked me if he was home, her gaze drifting all over the room. From my face to the door, to the mirror on the wall and back.

I repeated what he'd asked me to say and smirked when she rolled her eyes in response. She immediately apologized, but it was unnecessary. I left her to find her way to him, not that it would be hard with the racket spewing from under the door, to get the rest of dinner going. As she went upstairs, I walked back to the staircase, waiting long enough to hear her speaking to him and him finally opening the door for her. Looking through the rails, I saw him pull her into his room.

I called out a reminder to him of our prior discussion regarding girls in his room, even though there had never been any other girl in his room_—_to my knowledge anyway_—_then left them to their discussion.

I had the meat marinating and the veggies cleaned and peeled when I heard a car pull into the driveway. I was surprised to see Emmett approaching the door rather than my husband. I opened the door and greeted him as he stepped up.

"Hi, Emmett. How are you?"

"I'm good, Ms. C. Is Bella here?" Emmett looked as flustered as Edward had been, and now I was getting really concerned.

"What's going on, Emmett? Why are Edward and Bella having a discussion? You look pretty upset too?"

"Oh, um, yeah. They had a bit of a misunderstanding at school today, but I actually need to get Bella back home. There's been a, well, an accident with her dad."

"Oh, no! Is he okay?" I'd never met her father, but Renee and I had discussed him a few times. It was nice to see a couple who were no longer together but shared a respectful friendship for the sake of their daughter.

"I'm not really sure. Renee's been on the phone since before I got home from school, and she asked us to come get Bella so she could tell her what's going on."

"Right, okay." Moving to the bottom of the stairs, I called out to her. Edward exited the room first, heading away from me, followed by Bella looking even more perplexed than when she arrived.

I watched as she followed Emmett out the door. He didn't mention the reason they came to pick her up, and she didn't ask. I called Edward to help me with dinner, since he liked it when I let him be responsible for the barbequing. I went out on the back deck and lit the gas while I waited for him.

He stepped outside, barefoot and obviously no less upset than when he had arrived. I handed him the plate of meat and the tongs. Grabbing us each a drink, I went back outside and set his on the side table attached to the barbeque. I sat down at the nearby patio table and waited. I could see him working things out in his head and knew he would talk to me if I didn't push.

"How did you know Dad liked you?" he asked suddenly.

I tried to keep the surprise off my face, even though he wasn't looking at me. This conversation was not starting with a topic I had expected.

"Well," I smiled, remembering "…he showed up everywhere I was all summer. He offered to buy me treats and lent me his sweater when it was cool. He was kind and thoughtful."

He checked the heat of the grill and then closed the lid before coming to sit across from me. "So, he never just came out and said it to you?" His eyes were looking off across the backyard but not focused on anything.

"Not in so many words, no. Not at first anyway." Obviously my boy had a crush. "Why do you ask?"

He didn't answer my question but posed another. "How did you know he wasn't just being friendly? How do you know if someone wants to be more than just a friend?"

I didn't have an answer for that. I took a stab at it anyway, seeing that he was hopelessly lost in his own head. "Well, I'm not really sure. In the case of your father and me, he didn't treat any of his other friends the way he treated me. He knew other girls, but he paid me special attention. He was always a gentleman, but he went out of his way to do things for me. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, I guess so." He took a big gulp of his drink and didn't say anything else for a few minutes.

Breaking the silence, I attempted to draw him out. "What happened earlier today?"

Edward scowled and began to look uncomfortable. "Yeah, you might be getting a call from the school. I don't know who was around or if any teachers saw, but I kind of hit somebody."

"Edward!" I was stunned. Though he had a bit of a temper, he didn't usually lash out. "Why would you hit someone, and who did you hit?"

"It was a misunderstanding, and I reacted before I really understood what was going on. I thought I was protecting... Anyway, I was wrong. I'll sort it out."

"Who did you hit? I was hoping it wasn't someone I knew, silly as that may be.

"Riley."

"Oh, for Pete's sake, Edward! I go to the gym with his mother!"

"I know, I'll fix it. I'll apologize."

"Darn right you will! Honestly!" I knew there had to be some punishment but decided to hold off until I found out if the school was going to call or if I'd be receiving an irate phone call. "We'll talk more about this later. You know I'm going to let your father know."

He gave me that look of his, the "of course you will" look, scathing and full of disdain. I raised my eyebrow at him, a quick reminder that he had committed the offence. He nodded, accepting his fate. These little wordless conversations were, thankfully, often effective with him.

"All right, well, I'm going to check on the veggies. Don't forget about the steaks." The sound of the phone ringing greeted me as I opened the patio door.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Just a quick note: There are some instant messenger conversations in this chapter. Please bear in mind that these are lazy teenage boys who can't be bothered to use correct ****grammar, spelling, etc. The mistakes are intentional. Thank you to PTB for making quick work of this chapter. I did some tinkering afterwards and may have messed other things up! :D**

**CHAPTER 19:**

EMMETT

"Man, I don't know! Okay? I wasn't paying that close attention. All I know is that her Dad got hurt at work and it's not life-threatening or anything. He lives by himself, and they wouldn't let him out of the hospital unless there was someone there to help him out. His best friend and the guy's wife offered to let him stay with them, but he was too stubborn and was going on about being a burden on them, so Bella volunteered to go help take care of him." I swore to myself that if Ed didn't get out of my face, he was going to get my fist up his nose.

"But, what about school? What about hockey, didn't she sign up for house league? What about..."

"I. Don't. Know." I was trying to keep my cool, but this guy was really starting to work my last nerve.

"How could she just leave? She didn't tell anybody? She just left?" Edward was pacing the basement.

"Of course she told people. She called Alice and Rose. I think she called Riley..." I stopped talking as soon as his feet planted and his hands balled up. "Shit. Did you two not talk about this crap?"

He rolled his head around on his shoulders then dropped himself down on to the end of the couch. Leaning forward, he rested his forehead against the heels of his hands. "Yeah, yeah... He's not her boyfriend, but she wants a boyfriend, or boyfriends. She doesn't need any more _brothers_..."

_What?_ "What the hell are you talking about?"

"She told me that he isn't her boyfriend." He pushes back, leaning against the overstuffed cushions and throws his left arm over his face so that it covers his eyes.

"Not that, the last part. She's not looking to start dating a ton of guys, and she does _not_ see you as a brother." I barely restrained myself from snorting in disbelief.

"That's what she said," he mutters.

There must be a misunderstanding. Again. Shocking. I've seen the way she watches him when she thinks nobody notices. At first it really pissed me off. Then it kind of grossed me out. Then I noticed him watching her the same way.

I mean, after all, he's a good guy. She could definitely do a lot worse; just look at some of the idiots she's already had to deal with. If they want each other, who the hell am I to have an opinion about it. Unfortunately, neither one of them has enough guts to actually act on it.

"How long is she gone for?" Edward's face was an exact replica of the expression he wore in a picture of a him as pouting toddler that his mom kept on the entryway wall. She used it to remind him when he was behaving like a brat. It was priceless to watch when she used that tactic.

"I don't know. It might be a while though. I think he did some real damage to his leg and back or something."

If I were to place a bet, I'd bet you that Edward cried a bit on the way home that night.

*~ATR~*

EDWARD

I know I'm being a dick. I'm behaving like a spoiled kid, but I can't seem to help it. I'm an emotional ass, and I want to talk to Bella. I want to tell her that I don't like the idea of her having boyfriends and especially not a long-term boyfriend. I also want to tell her that I don't want her to think of me as a brother. I can't do either of these things because I have no way of contacting her. I don't have a phone number, e-mail or a mailing address to write her.

She's been gone two weeks now. According to Emmett, she registered for school with her "summer friends" and is settling in. I almost snapped when he told me that. Instead, I kicked the soccer ball we were kicking back and forth right out of his backyard right over into the yard of the neighbour two doors over. I had to buy him a new one because I refused to go knock on their door to get it back. I don't want her to settle in; I want her to come home.

Charlie's a grown man; I was sure he could hire someone to take care of him.

I huffed and puffed and grumbled to myself a while longer before I decided to distract myself with a video game marathon. I hadn't played a single in over a week because I just couldn't be bothered. Okay, fine, I was pouting. Sue me.

I log in to my Hotmail and notice a new MSN Messenger contact request dated three days ago. The address looks familiar somehow, so I accept. The more I think about it, the more my heart starts to pound because I know this has to be from Bella. Double seven is her jersey number of choice. I accept the contact and can't help but smile when I see she's online.

StickChick77: Hey, how's things?

PuckHog13: hi, too quiet around here when you're gone. what's up with the new name?

PuckHog13: how's your dad?

StickChick77: Old one won't work from here for some reason. Dial-up internet sucks. He's okay. Harry, Billy and Jake helped set up a bed downstairs, so he doesn't have to do the stairs. Good thing, because I sure can't lift him up them. ;)

PuckHog13: who are they? how long are you staying there?

StickChick77: My Dad's best friends and Billy's son. At least a couple of months. He's got to heal, then start physiotherapy. Won't know how much function he gets back until then.

I feel like I've just been kicked. I want to ask how old the son is but decide I don't want to know. Months? I thought she'd only be gone a couple of weeks. One month, tops. Now it sounds like she could be gone quite some time.

StickChick77: Edward, you still there?

PuckHog13: yeah, sorry.

I type, then erase, then type and hit send before I chicken out.

PuckHog13: i miss you

StickChick77: Me too.

*~ATR~*

BELLA

PuckHog13: how do you do find the places to hide so you can sneak up behind the bad guys? i always get caught.

StickChick77: Pure talent. :D

MajorTex: I swear, she cheats.

McPainMaster: If that was true, I wouldn't feel so bad getting creamed by a girl all the time when we play.

StickChick77: I do not cheat! Gotta go guys, time to make dinner.

McPainMaster: Bye, Bella-rella. Renee says to call her later.

StickChick77: K. Will do. Ciao.

I logged out of Messenger and shut down my old desktop. It had been 9 weeks that I'd been living with my Dad. His recovery went really slowly at first because apparently some ligament or something healed wrong, so they had to do an additional surgery they hadn't planned on, to correct it. We could already see the difference this time. He could step on his foot and straighten his leg, which he wasn't able to do before. Christmas was a few weeks away, and Garrett, Mom, Dad and I decided that I should stay at least until the New Year. There wasn't much point in leaving mid-semester, and even though Dad suggested I at least go home for the Christmas break, I don't think I'd be able to leave without worrying about him doing the long staircase alone, even though he was doing so much better.

Surprisingly, it hadn't been much of an adjustment. I already had friends here, even though I usually only saw them for a relatively short time over the summer. Most of the courses were close enough to what I had been taking that I could catch up pretty fast.

We'd managed to borrow a Playstation gaming system and some games from one of Dad's friends from work whose son was away at college. They lent it to us until Christmas break in case the son wanted it back when he was home for the holidays. Mom had insisted that Charlie get internet access even though he only ever used a computer at work and even then rarely. The dial-up signal was extra slow out herebut I was eternally thankful that I didn't have to hang out after school or go to the tiny local library every time I needed to do some research for homework.

I missed my friends back home, but thank goodness, I was able to keep in touch by e-mail and chat rooms. I could talk to my friends and stay informed on what was going on back home without killing my Dad with a long-distance phone bill.

"Bella, honey? Can you grab me a drink and a snack. Please?"

"I'm on my way down to make dinner." I called down as I shut down the computer and turned off my ancient 13 inch black and white TV before jogging down the stairs.

The week before Christmas, I was chatting online with Emmett and Jazz talking about the differences between the game systems we each have and deciding which is better: Emmett's Nintendo 64, Jazz's Sega Saturn or the PlayStation I'm using - when I decided to ask them about the elephant in the room.

StickChick77: So where's Edward?

I watched the screen waiting for a response, but there was nothing from either MajorTex or McPainMaster.

StickChick77: Guys?

MajorTex: has signed off

StickChick77: Something I said?

StickChick77: Emmett?

StickChick77: EMMETT!

McPainMaster: Yeah. Sorry about J. It's a touchy subject for him.

StickChick77: What is? Edward?

McPainMaster: Yes.

I waited almost a full minute before my impatience got the best of me.

StickChick77: EMMETT! Tell me what's going on.

McPainMaster: Have you talked to Alice lately?

StickChick77: Wow, nice subject change. Yes, a little. She's been busy. She has a new guy or something. Now what's going on with Edward and Jazz?

McPainMaster: I'm not changing subjects. Ok. Did she tell you who she's seeing?

StickChick77: No, just said she was seeing somebody new.

StickChick77: What does that have to do with Ed and Jazz?

And then it finally clicks. Holy crap! Edward and Alice? No way. I feel a pinch in the centre of my chest as the information sinks in.

StickChick77: She's seeing Edward? Why wouldn't she just tell me that?

McPainMaster: Come on, Bella! She probably just wanted to see where it was going before saying anything to you.

StickChick77: Why?

McPainMaster: Are you really that clueless, or do you just want to make me feel all awkward?

I cocked an eyebrow, even though he couldn't see it-, and waited for him to continue.

McPainMaster: Fine. Edward and Jazz aren't talking over this. I guess she didn't want to lose you like Edward lost Jazz.

StickChick77: I don't get it. Jazz and Alice were kind of flirty with each other, but I always thought it was just them being silly.

McPainMaster: Well, I guess that's what Alice thought too. Jazz seems to have had a different idea. He's super pissed because his cousin scooped his girl.

StickChick77: Well that sucks.

I felt kind of mad myself. I know I didn't have any kind of claim on Edward, but Alice knew that we're... Well we had a... Crap, I don't know what we had. Have. I'm not sure I like how this whole thing has developed and nobody bothered to mention it to me.

McPainMaster: Tell me about it. Leaves me stuck in the middle.

StickChick77: Yuck.

McPainMaster: Yeah. I'm gonna go pick a game to play. I need to blow something up and forget about everybody else's drama for a while.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Thank you to PTB for the beta assistance and for showing me how supremely dense I can be. I'm embarrassed how often I make the same mistakes... {Sigh} Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking this journey with me.**

**CHAPTER 20**

CHARLIE

I'd reached my wits' end. I didn't have a clue what had happened to my lovely, happy daughter to turn her into such a withdrawn, willful, obviously miserable soul.

It was just before dinner on Christmas Eve, usually one of my Bella's favorite times of the year. I didn't usually get to spend Christmas with her, and I had thought we were both looking forward to it. Over the last couple of weeks, she had stopped spending time playing on that video game system and computer chat-thing with Emmett and some other guys, which I had initially thought was a good thing. But instead of spending more time going out with real live people, she'd been spending all her time listening to some pretty depressing-sounding music and moping.

The night before she'd blown an absolute gasket on poor Jacob when he'd shown up at the door to ask her to come out caroling or some dang thing with him and a group of her friends. She hadn't seen them since school let out for the holidays.

She'd yelled at him for trying to take the place of her "real" friends, slammed the door in his face, and ran bawling up the stairs.

I'd gone over to open the door and apologize only to find the poor fella standing there looking completely shell shocked.

"What did I say?" he asked me.

"I have no idea," was the best reply I could manage. I debated barging up there and demanding to know what the hell was going on, but thought better of it when I reached the bottom of the stairs and could hear her sobbing. I decided to call Renee for some advice instead. What did I know about dealing with an emotional girl? When did my strong, independent daughter turn into a moody brat?

Renee filled me in on what information she'd been able to gather by speaking with Emmett and some of the other mothers. Seemed like my Bella had been dealing with a long distance broken heart. Seeing as how I was the closest adult in her life at that point, and despite Renee's offer to fly down and speak to her, I decided that tonight I was going to try and get her to talk to me. I was not really good with all this messy emotional crap, but I loved my little girl and would do anything to bring back her smile.

"Bella, can you come down here for a minute?"

She didn't respond, but I heard the bedsprings creak and the shuffle of her feet as she put on her slippers. The house was a little on the old side, and some spots were drafty, especially in the winter. I'd caulked every hole I could find and left up the storm windows year-round, but somehow the cold breezes still made their way in.

She emerged from her bedroom looking cautious and weary.

I moved back to my armchair and settled myself into the seat, taking a little extra time to stretch my bad leg out in front of me. I pushed back to force up the footrest to take some pressure off my aching back while she took a seat on the couch across from me.

"I'm just going to lay it all out there, so you're gonna have to bear with me a bit here, okay?"

She nodded as she grabbed the afghan off the back of couch and wrapped it around her fleece-covered shoulders. The large sweatshirt she'd been wearing around the house obviously didn't belong to her, and I wondered if it belonged to Emmett or this Edward character Renee told me about.

"So I talked to Renee last night." Her eyes went wide and she looked up at me. Now that I had her undivided attention, I continued. "I know I'm a poor substitute for your mom, honey. Something is obviously going on with you that you don't want to talk about with me. I'm going to guess it's a boy thing."

She didn't confirm or deny it, but the color blooming on her cheeks let me know I was in the right ballpark.

"Your mom and some of the ladies back home have put some pieces together. It seems you're not the only one acting all strange lately. A fella named Jasper has apparently been pretty darn mopey himself lately. You wouldn't have any idea what that's about, would you?"

She looked at her lap and pulled her hands together before beginning to pick at the skin along the sides of her fingernails, but she didn't speak.

"Also, apparently Emmett has been spending a lot of time with a friend of yours. Rosanne?"

"Rosalie," she corrected me with a soft smile. The first I had seen in some time.

"Sorry, Rosalie. Well, apparently Rosalie and Alice are also not getting along."

She looked up at me, surprised. "What? Why?"

"Alright, this is my understanding... Jasper's mad at Edward and Alice for seeing each other when Jasper liked Alice first." She nodded. "Emmett's stuck in the middle between those two." I waited for a reaction before continuing. She looked up but said nothing, just waiting for me to continue. "Rosalie and Emmett are mad at Edward and Alice for upsetting you and Jasper. I think that pretty much covers it."

"Me? Why would Alice and Edward dating…" she made a face like she'd just sucked hard on a lemon wedge while saying "dating", "…bother me?" She attempted to look like she couldn't care less, but the way her eyes began to fill with tears told a whole other story.

"Sweet girl, just because you didn't tell the boy you liked him..." She shot me a look and opened her mouth, about to argue. "…That's what Emmett said to your mother, honey." She snapped her mouth shut and slumped back against the couch cushions and began picking lint balls off the afghan where it laid on her knee. "Anyway, just because you didn't tell the boy doesn't mean Alice shouldn't have taken your feelings in to account before moving in on him."

I watched my little girl struggle to keep the tears at bay.

"I never told her I liked him," she said simply.

"Okay. Did she ever tell you specifically that she liked this Jasper fellow?"

"No."

"But you knew anyway, right?"

"Of course, it was so obvious she had a thing for Jasper." She rolled her eyes and huffed.

"Exactly. That's what Emmett told your mom about you. He told her that it was so obvious to everyone that you and Edward liked each other. The only people who couldn't see it were the two of you."

She stayed quiet for a moment, fighting for control, but then the dam burst. "Why would she do that, Daddy? Why? At least Edward has an excuse. He didn't know I liked him, but Allie did!"

I struggled to move myself upright so that I could try to offer my baby some comfort. Seeing that I was having trouble, she picked herself up off the couch, blanket and all, and crawled into my lap. I kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back like I used to when she was an upset toddler. She cried and cried until I thought her eyes must have been going dry. I made what I hoped were soothing noises and cuddled her close. It was all kinds of awkward and uncomfortable now that she was nearly full grown, but I wasn't about to complain.

Once she'd calmed down, she used the sleeves of the sweatshirt to wipe her eyes and nose then got up and moved back to the couch.

"I just feel so confused," she whispered.

"Welcome to life, sunshine. It's a big pile of 'what the hell?' half the time. We just muddle through trying to be the best person we can. There isn't a whole lot you can do about that situation from here, so why not make the best of what's right here around you. You have friends here, people who love you. Why not let them have the pieces of you you're trying so hard to leave back home. Those people will still be there when you get back."

She didn't agree, but she didn't argue either. I figured I might as well quit while I was ahead.

"Let's go, baby girl," I said after struggling my way out of the chair. I stepped towards her and patted her shoulder in a fatherly fashion. At least I hoped it was fatherly. "Harry's going to be here to pick us up in about half an hour."

"He is? Why?"

"Well, unless you've been cooking all super-secret 007-style, it's Christmas Eve and we have no dinner. I'd cook, but we both know that means grilled cheese." _Oh look, I got a smirk._ "Besides which, I think you owe young Jacob an apology."

Her blush returned with a vengeance.

"Right. I do." She unwound the blanket and draped it back over the couch. "I'm just gonna take a quick shower and change."

"That sounds like an excellent plan. You're getting a little ripe." I teased her and she obliged me with a shove of her shoulder as she passed by.

*~AtR~*

BELLA

Standing under the steady stream of hot water, I let my body relax for the first time in days. I'd been a ball of tension, just waiting for the next bomb to explode. The soothing steam and warmth loosened the tension in my neck and back. I took as much time to enjoy the sensation as I could, knowing I was on a deadline. It wouldn't be polite to make everyone wait for me to have Christmas Eve dinner.

I washed my hair, skipping conditioning because I was just going to twist it up into a bun to save time, shaved my legs and other necessary areas before scrubbing off the layer of sadness that felt as though it was coating my skin. I was bright pink and refreshed when I stepped out of the shower. I dressed quickly in a pair of leggings and a long sweater, twisted and pinned up my hair, and applied minimal make-up to my still somewhat swollen-from-crying face. The doorbell rang just as I flipped off the bathroom light.

Jake was standing in the foyer when I reached the bottom of the stairs, avoiding me with his eyes. I sighed when my father not-so-subtly excused himself from the room to "find that thing" before we left. I knew it was his way of giving me a moment, without an audience, to apologize to Jacob for the way I had spoken to him previously.

"Look, Jake. I'm sor-"

"No," he interrupted gruffly, "It's fine. We're just temporary placeholders until you go back to your normal life. Your 'real' life. I get it."

"No, it's not _fine_, and I didn't really mean it." I moved closer and pushed his shoulder with mine. "I got some shitty news from back home and didn't take it well. I'm really sorry. You've been my friend for just as long as any of them, and you didn't deserve to get yelled at or treated like you're less important to me, because you're not."

He finally met my eyes and gave me a look that I'd interpret as disbelieving. I held my breath, waiting for him to say something. My lungs felt like they were about to burst when he finally responded.

"Good. You know I love you always, B, but that was a really crappy thing to say to someone who's known you since we were babies in diapers making mud pies in the driveway." His face broke into a grin, and he wrapped his arms around me. "Come on, Charlie!" he yelled. We don't want to keep Harry waiting to dig into Sue's sweet potato casserole!"

That reminded me. "Hey, I thought Harry was picking us up?"

"Oh, um, he had another errand he had to run. He'll probably beat us back."

We walked out to Jake's ancient VW Rabbit, arm in arm, while Charlie locked up.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Short and sweet: this note and the chapter. Ok, not so sweet, but short! Thanks to Project Team Beta for the quick turn-around. As we all do, I've made some changes after their review, so any mistakes belong to me. Just like this plot! ;)**

**CHAPTER 21:**

_Oh, the weather outside is frightful,_

_But the fire is so delightful,_

_And since we've no place to go,_

_Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…_

I struggled to free myself from my burrow beneath my sheets, blankets and comforters and slammed my hand down on my alarm clock. I loved Christmas music but not at that volume and definitely not this early.

When we were dropped off at home last night, I could have sworn I could smell my mom's sweet potato casserole coming from the kitchen. It reminded me that breakfast would not be ready and waiting for me Christmas morning, as was usual in my family. I decided to get up before my dad and make him a special breakfast. This involved getting up at the ungodly hour of five in the morning since Charlie was usually up by six.

I rolled slowly out of bed and grabbed a large barrette off my dresser. I twisted and spun my hair into a messy bun and slid the barrette in to hold it. When I opened my bedroom door, I was immediately assaulted by smells I could identify as coffee, bacon and either pancakes or French toast. I felt my cheeks pull up in a big grin.

I trotted down the stairs and called out, "Something smells fantastic! Dad, did you make breakfast?"

I was confused to find Dad sitting calmly at the table sipping a coffee while the pans on the stove sizzled away.

"No," a deep voice from behind me said, causing my heart to jump in my chest. "I did."

I spun around and flung myself at my moose of a brother. Tears sprung to my eyes as I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him with all my might.

"Easy there, Slugger. I need to get back to the food before it burns."

"Emmett! When? How? What?" I laughed and shook my head at my inability to complete a sentence. "I'm so happy you're here!"

"Merry Christmas, Little Bird." He gave me a big bear hug, and I melted. I had missed my big brother.

"Okay, kids. I think the bacon's getting a bit crispier than you might like…"

I chuckled at Charlie and released Emmett. I took a quick look around to see what food had already been prepared, then grabbed the loaf of bread off the counter and got to toasting.

Our bellies were finally full, and the kitchen was cleaned up. I sat on the floor in front of the Christmas tree playing Santa to my dad and brother. Charlie and Emmett were awkward with each other, having only met briefly a handful of times. They did their best to make me happy, and it was a wonderful morning. Christmas carols were playing in the background, and Emmett had brought his gifts with him in his luggage. I was surprised he fit them all in there until he told me what he'd packed for his visit: three changes of clothes, deodorant and his toothbrush. He was staying for a week. I just shook my head and told him to remind me to show him how the washing machine works. He was going to need it.

"What? I figured you had soap and shampoo." He shrugged.

Charlie and I laughed while I continued passing out gifts. We had opened almost everything when Emmett pulled two packages out from under the couch. I recognized the writing on each of them immediately: one from Rose, the other from Alice.

*~AtR~*

EDWARD

"No."

"Edward, you need to talk to her." Mom's consistent reasonableness really got on my nerves.

"No, I don't." I put my headphones back over my ears. Of course, Mom pulled them back off.

"Edward. She's come by every day for a week looking like someone kicked her puppy. It's Christmas. At least hear the poor girl out."

I narrowed my eyes at her, but she just stared right back at me.

"Fine."

"So you'll come down and talk to her?" Mom stood up and smoothed the spot on my comforter where she'd been sitting, then ran her hands down the front of her trousers.

"No. She can come up here." The raised eyebrow reminded me that I was talking to my mother, not one of my friends. "Uh, I mean, can she come up? Please?"

"I guess so. The door stays open."

I rolled my eyes at that. No worries on that front.

Mom looked at me with confusion all over her face. "Look honey, I have only the barest understanding of what's going on with you and your friends right now, but I really hope you know what you're doing."

I couldn't help snorting at that as I replaced my headphones, yet again. _I_ had _no idea_ what I was doing. _None_ of this stuff was _my_ idea. I'd just been tossed into the pool with my hands tied behind me and told to swim.

Shortly after Mom went downstairs, there was a knock on my door. I considered pretending I couldn't hear her over the music playing but thought better of it. I wanted to get this conversation over with. There was nothing she could say that was going to make the shit-storm any better.

"Hi," she said softly. "Merry Christmas."

"Alice." I dropped the headphones on my bed and pushed myself up so that I was sitting against the headboard. "It hasn't been very merry around here. I doubt it has been for you either."

"I don't know what to do, Edward. None of this was supposed to happen." She walked over and perched herself on the corner of my bed. Her eyes stayed on her knee where she began picking at the material of her tight leggy things.

"A little late for that, don't you think?" I snapped at her. I felt a little bad, but then again, all of this was her brilliant idea after all.

Her face crumpled, and she began to cry. Perfect.

"Look, Alice. Why don't you just call Jasper and explain things to him."

"Don't you think I've tried that! He wouldn't talk to me. At school he avoids me, and I've been stopping by his house every flipping night where he tells his mother he has nothing to say to me. Rose hates me. I tried to tell her what I did, but she just walks away from me. I've come to your house trying to get someone to talk to me. You're the first one who's given me a chance in weeks."

I stared at the poster on my wall trying to think of something to say to her.

"Why, Alice? What on earth made you think any of this was a good idea. I don't know why the hell I went along with you in the first place. You didn't really give me a choice though. You just announced that we were a couple out of the blue, fluttered your lashes and gave me those big, blue eyes and pouty face, and I trusted you enough to agree. What were you trying to do?" I laid my head back against the wall waiting for her reply.

She used her palm and the sleeve of her red Christmas sweater to wipe away her tears and her runny nose. Gross.

"I've had a crush on Jasper for, well, forever. He's always been friendly to me but never really seemed to be interested. I thought maybe if he thought someone else was paying me some attention then maybe he'd pay some attention to me."

"Okay, sure, I get that, but why me? I've always been your friend, Alice. Couldn't you just have told me you wanted to try and make him jealous? I thought we were just hanging out since Bella was away, then the next thing I know I found out you've been telling everyone we're together."

I leaned forward for emphasis before continuing.

"Well, you certainly got their attention. So did I. My two best friends won't talk to me. Rose shoots me glares every time I see her, and Bella deleted me from her chat contacts. How am I supposed to feel, Alice?"

"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't think ahead, obviously. Tell me what to do, and I will. I want things to go back to the way they were. I want my friends back. Help me, Edward. Please?"

"Did you know?" I asked her.

"Know what?" she deflected, and it royally pissed me off.

"Are you kidding me, Alice? You know exactly what I mean. Do you know the reason why all of this blew up in our faces?"

_Emmett was obviously pissed off at me and looked ready to break me in half. Let me tell you, the way he'd been growing, I had absolutely no doubt he could do so, easily. _

_When I finally had enough of him eyeballing me and sneering at me, I shoved him into a locker asking him what his problem was. He shocked the hell out of me by yelling, "I don't talk to assholes that break my sister's heart," then stalking off._

_I stood there looking like a deer in headlights, I'm sure, when Rose walked over and delivered the final crushing verbal blow. "Yeah, that's right jackass. She's had a crush on you for, like years, and as soon as she's gone for a little while, you move in on one of her best friends. It wouldn't surprise me if she never comes back. She won't even talk to ME. Emmett is the only one of us she talks to. If she doesn't come back because of you, I'll remove your balls with a spoon. Asshole."_

_I slid down the wall and sat on the floor completely flabbergasted until the custodian came by and asked me if I needed help._

"Did you know because I sure as hell didn't?"

"Yes," she barely whispered, finally answering me.

"Right. You didn't think maybe you should have mentioned that before or, you know, considered it at ALL before you came up with this brilliant plan of yours?"

"I swear I didn't think any of this would happen. I thought for sure everyone would know what I was doing." She made the strangest whimper / sobbing sound. "Help me fix it. Tell me how to fix it."

"There's nothing else you can do but just tell them the truth and accept the consequences. You, and I guess me too now, have hurt a lot of people. We just explain and apologize."

I could only hope that would be enough.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Disclaimer: I have NO IDEA if you are allowed to ship food on a commercial flight (in checked luggage or otherwise), but I somehow doubt it! It's called FICTION for a reason! Cheers!**

**CHAPTER 22:**

BELLA

I hummed along with the Burl Ives version of Holly Jolly Christmas while I warmed up the copious amounts of food that Emmett had filled his suitcase with. No wonder he'd barely packed any clothes. I knew I had smelled mom's sweet potatoes when we'd gotten home from Jake's last night.

Over dinner, Em and I shared some of the more ridiculous tales of our exploits growing up. Dad shared with us some stories from when I was really little and told Emmett about some of the things I'd done during my times visiting him.

We had just begun digging in to the Tupperware container filled with the desserts my mom sent when the phone rang.

I excused myself from the table and picked up the phone. "Merry Christmas. Swan residence."

"Merry Christmas, Bella!"

"Hi, Mom! Thanks so much for all the food…and for sending Emmett." I was surprised to find myself close to tears.

"Oh, it was no problem. Emmett goes where the food goes," she teased.

We chatted for a bit and then she put Garrett on the phone so we could exchange our holiday wishes. Emmett then got on the line and took his turn wishing our parents a Merry Christmas. When Charlie took the phone to speak to Mom and gloat about their successful surprise, Emmett and I finished our desserts then cleared the table.

Charlie excused himself to visit some of his friends for the evening and my brother and I settled in the living room with mugs of hot chocolate to watch our favorite Christmas movies. I won the coin toss so we watched _Home Alone_ first, then we'd watch his choice: _A Christmas Story_.

When we reached the point where Catherine O'Hara was listening to John Candy try to impress her with his polka band's notoriety, Emmett cleared his throat loudly.

"So, I hope that the presents from Rose and Alice weren't too much. Rose asked me to bring hers when I told her I was coming and Alice had dropped hers off at the house last week. We haven't really talked… I mean, she didn't know if you were coming home… Anyway, she left it with Mom, so I brought it. I hope that was okay."

I thought of the compilation cassette of the top songs from the past year that Rose had sent and the pretty royal blue beret, scarf and mitten set from Alice. Both gifts had come with cards full of warm wishes and sappy sayings, but Alice's also had a short postscript saying simply, "_I'm sorry. It's not what you think. Please talk to me_."

"It's fine. Really."

"For what it's worth, I don't think they meant to hurt you." He leaned forward and set his empty mug on the table then rested his right elbow on his knee and supported his head with his fist against his cheek. "I might have said something to Edward that I probably could have kept to myself, but by his reaction, I'm pretty sure he didn't know how much you like him."

"Oh God, Emmett. What did you say?" My mortification with this whole situation just would not end.

"Nothing really, I swear." He had the decency to look contrite. "I think maybe you should talk to him. Or if you aren't ready for that conversation, maybe you should give Alice a call."

"Yeah, you're probably right. I need to find out directly from one of them what's going on." I needed to talk it out once and for all, if for no other reason than to move past my own misery.

I looked at the clock on the wall and since it was only a little after nine o'clock, I said goodnight to Emmett and headed to my room to make the call in private.

The phone only rang twice before Mrs. Brandon answered with a cheery "Merry Christmas".

"Merry Christmas to you too, Mrs. Brandon. It's Bella. Is Alice there?"

"Bella! Hi, honey! How are you doing? Are you back in town?" I could hear the slightest hint of a slur in her speech. I guessed that they'd made it to the board game portion of the Brandon family Christmas. It was the only time of year I'd ever seen the normally reserved Mrs. Brandon loosen up a bit.

"No, I'm still at my dad's, but Emmett came to spend Christmas with me and brought Alice's gift. I just wanted to thank her."

"Of course, of course. Hold on one second and I'll get her for you."

I could hear her call for Alice and then the bumps of the handset being clumsily laid down on what I assumed was the kitchen table.

"Bella? Are you there?"

"Hi, Alice." I took a deep breath to gather my courage before continuing. "Merry Christmas. Thank you for the lovely gifts. They're beautiful."

"You're welcome. Mom says you're still at your dad's and Emmett is there, too?" Her voice was quiet and uncertain. I don't know why, but I'd almost expected her to be snarky…condescending even.

"Yeah. It was a nice surprise."

"I imagine you needed him right about now. I know I wish I had a brother or sister lately." She sniffled and her breathing hitched. _Was she crying?_

"Oh, Bella. I've really messed things up. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. It's all my fault. Be as mad at me as you want, but don't be mad at Edward, please. I swear it's not his fault. He didn't do anything. I really just bulldozed ahead like I always do. I didn't even think of what it would look like. I just thought everyone would know. I thought I was being so obvious. I just didn't think… I didn't… Oh God, please don't be mad at him. He's so mad at me. Everybody is and I'm so sorry." She continued rambling but I couldn't make out any more words over the sniffling and gasping.

"Alice. ALICE. Calm down. I don't understand what you're saying." I waited a few moments before speaking again, giving her time to compose herself. "What did you do, Alice?"

Her muffled sniffles and snorts followed by some rustling told me she was probably wiping tears and her nose.

"I just wanted Jasper to pay me some attention. He's been so busy with his new skiing hobby and spending time with the guys that I got jealous. I know it's not your fault, but since you're away I don't have a reason to go over to your house and bump into him there. I don't see him much at school either. I thought maybe if he heard that someone else was paying attention to me, spending time with me, that he'd, I don't know, get jealous or something."

The cartoon light bulb went on over my head. "You told him you were dating Edward."

"Well, kind of. I told other people we were dating. I mean, we were hanging out sometimes when Jasper was skiing and Emmett's been helping Garrett run the hockey school sessions for the little kids so we've gone to a movie, grabbed lunch, that kind of thing."

"Did Edward know?" I asked.

"Not at first. I totally flaked. I didn't even think to explain to him what I was doing. By the time the backlash came around I was already so far in and he's such a nice guy, he just went along with me. He totally let me dig the hole and then we both fell in."

The line went silent as I let the information she'd given me settle in.

I only had two questions that I needed answered. "Do you like him, Alice? Did you want to go out with him?"

"NO, Bella. Not at all. I mean, he's cute I guess, and really sweet but I just don't think of him that way. It wasn't about that at all."

I nodded, forgetting for a moment that she couldn't see me. "Okay, but did he think it was real? Did he want it to be?"

"No, Bella. He just didn't want to contradict me in front of everyone. I don't know why he let me get away with it other than he's too nice to call me out on it. He doesn't want me."

I was so confused. So Alice just told everyone they were dating to make Jasper jealous. He must be the only person in school who didn't already know that. Well, I guess it worked, kind of. I still didn't understand why Edward went along with her.

"Bella?"

"Yeah, Alice?"

"Uh, I don't know how much you know about what's been going on here, but when Emmett, Jasper and Rose heard that Edward and I were supposedly dating, there were a lot of, uh, falling outs. When everything went to hell I tried to fix it. I really did. Nobody would talk to me and they weren't talking to Edward either. It hasn't been great at home. He hasn't spoken to me in a while either. I went to see Edward today and he finally let me explain."

She sounded worried and it was making me tense.

"Okay…"

"Well, I kind of confirmed that you have a crush on him."

"ALICE!"

"I'm sorry! He didn't understand why everyone was mad at him until Emmett said something to him. He didn't understand why Emmett and Rose were so pissed at him. It wasn't like he was cheating on a girlfriend or something."

"Oh, great. So that's when Emmett told him I liked him."

"Yeah. I swear, I thought he knew, or at least had some kind of clue. Turns out, he didn't. He asked me if I knew, and I told him I did."

"This is such a mess." I'd been sitting on the area rug leaning against my bed. I got up and lay down on my bed.

"I'm sorry, Bella. Just tell me what I need to do to fix this with you and I will. Name it. Anything."

"Forget it, Alice. It's fine."

"It's NOT fine. I've screwed everything up and everybody is mad at Edward and each other and it's horrible."

"We'll figure it out. Just let me talk to Emmett and try and straighten everything out and I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

"Okay." She took a deep breath and let it out loudly. "So, are we okay?"

"Yeah, Alice. We're okay." I lied. "I'll talk to you soon."

"Thanks, Bella. Happy New Year."

"I'll probably talk to you before then," more lies, "but Happy New Year, Alice."

~*AtR*~

EDWARD

Things calmed down after Christmas. My relationships with my friends seemed to slide back into a more or less normal pattern. Emmett still side-eyed Alice and I occasionally and Jasper barely spoke to me, but at least the outright hostility had ceased. Alice came around occasionally with Rose, but didn't speak much to me or anyone else. She seemed to have withdrawn socially and it made me feel bad for her.

Bella eventually returned from living with her Dad. Apparently, he had healed enough that his doctors agreed that he didn't need the constant support and assistance Bella had been providing. Emmett told me that Charlie told Bella that although he loved having her with him, he knew there was somewhere else she belonged.

The first time I saw her when she got back, she avoided me. Well, she said hello and answered questions I posed to her, but she wouldn't initiate any conversation. It was weird.

After a couple of months, things were as close to normal as it seemed they were going to get. Spring break was coming and our hockey team was gearing up for an away tournament. Mom, Esme, Renee and our other team moms were planning team dinners and sorting out who was responsible for bringing what snacks and drinks for the "team room"; the staff was working on drilling their game plan into our heads. Us kids, we were just chomping at the bit for the freedom we gained during these weekends away.

The parents would mostly congregate in the team room and have a few drinks, play some cards, watch a game on the TV or just gab their heads off. Meanwhile, us kids would have the run of the hotel. We'd swim in the hotel's indoor pool, play Manhunt in the hallways and stairwells between games, and hide from hotel security once the other guests had enough of hearing elephants running up and down the hallways all day and night and started sending complaints down to the front desk. We used to bring our mini-sticks and have games in the hallways where our block of rooms were located, but a lot of places now had a written list of rules that our parents had to sign on check-in forbidding most of the fun stuff, so we didn't bother bringing them unless there was an open area we could use to play outdoors.

When the tournament weekend finally rolled around and my dad finally pulled in to the parking lot, I was surprised to see Bella standing beside Garrett's van hauling bags of snacks off of the pile of stuff jammed in the back. Last I'd heard, she was staying with Rose's family for the weekend.

I felt my heartbeat pick up as I exited the car and headed over in her direction.

"Hey." _Brilliant opening line_. I grimaced at my lack of smoothness.

Bella looked up and scowled at my grimace. "Hi."

"What are you doing here? I thought you were staying with Rose."

She rolled her eyes and turned back to grab another bag from the van. "Sorry to disappoint you. She and her mom came down with some kind of stomach bug or something, so here I am. I'll stay out of your way; don't worry."

"What? What are you talking about?" I didn't understand why she was being so short with me.

"Edward, come and get your bag and help your father with the cooler. I'd like to check in before the crowd begins to arrive." My mother's impatient tone meant I couldn't investigate what was up with Bella, so I gave her a parting glance and high-fived Emmett as I passed him heading back to their van to get more stuff.

Once we were all checked in, I left my parents chatting in the hall with one of our goalie's parents and headed down to the main level where I found Emmett and a couple of the other guys waiting as the others arrived. Once there was a good crowd of us, we headed off to explore.

I was running down a long, thin hallway that I was pretty sure led to the pool area and trying to stay ahead of Jasper who'd been hot on my heels for the last ten minutes when I turned a sharp corner and bowled over the person who was coming around the corner. Of course it had to be Bella.

She shoved me forcefully off of her and tried to scramble to her feet when she cried out and collapsed back to the floor.

"Dammit!" she whimpered.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" I leaned over and tried to grasp the ankle she was clutching.

"Get OFF! What the hell, Edward?" She glared at me and moved to get up again but wasn't able to put any weight on her foot at all. Her ankle was already visibly swelling and as my eyes moved up from her flip-flops to her bare thigh I realized she was sitting on the cold cement floor in nothing but a wet bathing suit and one of Emmett's t-shirts that was beginning to soak through. I swallowed hard as my eyes focused on the two protruding wet spots on her chest.

"Oh for God's sake, are you serious right now?" She crossed her arms tightly across her body.

I snapped my attention to her face, which was turning an unnatural shade of purple, and started mumbling apologies.

"Shut up; just shut up."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Look, Bella. I know you're pissed at me for something, something other than this," I motioned to her position on the floor with sweeping arms, "but right now we need to get you some help. Either we can stay here and wait for someone to find us, which I'm sure will happen shortly, or you can let me carry you to get help."

She looked around and stared at me for a moment before agreeing. "Fine."

"Okay." I scrambled to my knees and leaned down to pick her up. I looped one arm under her legs and the other behind her back. I stumbled a bit as I rose to my feet, but was surprised to find that she was really light.

I turned to head back towards the staircase I'd come down, and Bella rested her head on my shoulder as I walked.

Even with Bella's slight weight, I was huffing pretty good by the time we reached the lobby level. I was heading towards the seating area of the lobby when I heard my name being called and the sounds of multiple footsteps coming up behind me. After placing Bella on one of the love seats, foot beside her on the cushion, I turned to find some of my team mates looking at us curiously.

I pointed as I assigned the guys tasks, "You, find Emmett and bring him here. You, go to room 327 and see if one of her parents is there, if not try room 322 or the team room. You, go ask the reception guy if he has any idea where the nearest hospital is."

The three of them scurried away and I was left with two other guys eyeballing a sniffling Bella. "Okay, guys. You can go. Find the other guys. Continue the game. Whatever. Just… scram." They snarled at my dismissal but left anyway.

I didn't know what else to do, so Bella and I sat quietly until Dan returned with a map with the nearest hospital circled. He left to find the other guys just as Emmett came jogging up the hallway.

"I should have known," he muttered as he knelt down beside Bella and hugged her while checking out her distended and bruised ankle.

"Emmett, she's going to have to get it x-rayed and she's sitting here in wet clothes. Can you please get her something to change into?"

He tossed me his key-card and waved me off. I stood there open-mouthed. "Emmett! I can't go through her clothes!"

Bella agreed, "No way! Emmett, please?"

"Fine," he huffed. "I'll be right back."

We sat quietly, me staring at the nearby elevator back praying for Garrett and Renee to arrive, and Bella wincing and silently crying. The front desk guy called out to ask if there was anything he could do, but I told him I'd already sent someone for her parents.

Finally, Emmett and his parents stepped out of the elevator and rushed over to us. Garrett and Renee both had their jackets on and Emmett was carrying a change of clothes and a blanket for Bella. I handed them the map, gave them a brief recap of what had happened and apologized profusely as Garrett ran out to get the van and Renee fussed over Bella. Emmett just stood back and glowered at me.

Arriving at the front entrance, Garrett came back inside, lifted Bella off the couch and settled her in the passenger seat of the van. Renee climbed in back and they set off.

Emmett followed me back upstairs to my room and to my surprise, came in with me instead of going to his own room.

When I looked at him questioningly, he shrugged. "Your mom told my mom I'd stay with you until they get back from the hospital."

I laid back on the double bed I'd claimed and Emmett sat on the other.

Four hours later, we'd watched a lame action movie, two episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos, and some strange cartoon for adults. Finally there was a knock at the door.

I jumped off the bed and rushed over to pull the door open.

Garrett gave me a weak smile. "It's not broken, just badly sprained. She's resting now."

Emmett and I both let out relieved breaths. He followed his father back to their own room. I probably could have gone out to see what the rest of the guys were up to, but instead I shut off the TV and went to bed. We had a fairly early game in the morning, and I was inexplicably exhausted.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: I'm sure you're as tired of hearing me apologize for the delays between chapters as I am of giving them, but I'm still sorry. Thanks to PTB for their help cleaning up my comma issues. On we go.**

**CHAPTER 23:**

BELLA

Sleeping with my ankle throbbing all night long was a ridiculous exercise. I couldn't get comfortable and tossed and turned all night long.

After finally falling asleep in the wee hours of the morning, I woke up to mumbles and the shuffling sounds of my mom, Garrett and Em trying to get ready for the first game of the day in the semi-darkness.

"Why are you guys getting ready in the dark? What time is it?" I groaned as my ankle throbbed in protest when I tried to sit up.

"Sorry, honey. We were trying not to wake you." Mom patted my head and kissed me on the forehead.

Garrett passed me a glass of water and some of the painkillers the emergency room doctor had prescribed. "Here, these should help take the edge off."

I took the medicine and set the glass on the bedside table then pouted at my family. "You were just going to leave me here?"

Mom smiled and laid her cheek on my head as Garrett and Em continued to move about the room getting their things together.

"I honestly thought you'd sleep right through the first game."

"I want to come; that's why we're here after all." I realized (after a moment) that I might be being rather selfish. "Unless it's going to be too much trouble or I'll slow you down." I frowned now concerned that I was going to be a burden on my family during this already busy weekend.

Emmett thrust a banana at me and rolled his eyes. "Look short stuff, if you want to come, you come. We'll figure it out."

The guys gathered up their gear and headed down to load up the van while Mom helped me get ready. By the time they returned, I was dressed and ready to go.

Emmett walked over to where I was perched on the bed, turned and crouched down in front of me. "Climb on."

I felt ridiculous and buried my head in his shoulder to avoid all the curious stares as we passed other hotel guests in the hallways and elevator. I wrangled myself into the van, and we did a quick drive-through run for a fast-food breakfast. I was sure that was Emmett's favorite part of going away from home with no access to a kitchen-consuming copious amounts of fast food.

When we arrived at the arena, Mom helped me out of the car, and we slowly made our way across the parking lot, me fumbling with the crutches and Mom fussing over me while the guys headed in with Emmett's equipment. We passed several other families on the way in, and most of them offered their assistance. Even though it would have been much easier to accept, I turned them all down, preferring to try and maintain some dignity by hobbling toward the rink.

I wasn't surprised to see Garrett making his way back to us shortly. He didn't say a word; he just scooped me off my feet bridal style, crutches and all. Mom just took possession of the crutches and chuckled as she followed us in.

Once I was settled in the front row of the upper deck bleachers, Garrett headed back down the stairs. The boys had already taken to the ice and were skating warm-up laps around their half of the rink. I found myself trying to bury my face behind my hair and the upturned collar of my jacket. It seemed as though every eye was on me.

The game seemed to start off well. The guys were in sync. Their passes were clean, and the shots on net were in our favour. Edward seemed to be hanging back a bit, floating around the edges of the play, not really getting in there. Mid-way through the second period, things fell apart for him. Edward missed several passes that he should have had. Emmett put a nice pass right on his blade, but the shot went way wide. He shrugged Emmett off when he tried to talk to him on the bench. He then missed three shots, including one where the goalie was completely out of position. I watched as Garrett approached him between the second and third periods and was stunned to see Edward move off the bench and take a seat against the back wall. He didn't go back out for a single shift in the third. More telling, he didn't look up from his knees.

The third period gave the team a chance to catch back up. Edward's bench warming caused some line juggling, but luckily it seemed to work out. There were several unusual lines put on the ice that produced goals. They managed to pull off a tie.

I remained seated in the bleachers while the seats emptied around me. Mom headed downstairs with the other team parents, promising to be back with Garrett to help me down the stairs.

Even though I knew it wasn't my fault, I felt guilty that Edward was so distracted that he pulled himself from the game. It didn't make any sense for me to feel that way, but it didn't change the way I felt.

I watched the ice resurfacer make its laps around the ice, scraping off the layer of snow from the last game and filling in the grooves with a layer of water in a bit of a daze. I barely registered the warm-ups of the next game's teams when movement off to my side caught my attention.

"Hey."

I jumped at the sound of Edward's voice as he sat down two seats over from me. I frowned as he continued to focus on his hands as they twitched and twined in his lap.

"Edward." He started at the harshness of my tone. I couldn't help it. He was purposely avoiding looking at me. "I'm fine. It's just my ankle. I've done worse to myself tripping over my backpack."

A small smile flitted across his face, then he grimaced.

"Look, Bella. I… I'm sorry about all the stuff… The thing with Alice… I don't. I mean, I didn't… I'm just… sorry." He huffed in apparent frustration. Now I was annoyed for a whole other reason. Though things had somewhat gone back to normal, things still felt all wrong between all of us who had been involved in the situation.

"Edward, can we just not talk about that. It's over…"

"NO! No." He turned in his seat and finally looked me in the eye. "It's not over. I don't want it to be over."

I stared at him, my eyes roaming over his face. He was making the strangest faces as he tried to find the words he wanted to say to me. My heart picked up its pace, and I could feel the heat creeping up my neck.

"I know we haven't talked about what happened because I really just don't know what to say. I don't want to make things worse, but I don't want to forget it. I've had people tell me things. Things about you. About how you feel about me… Felt about me."

He took a deep breath and slid down in his seat until his knees were mashed against the metal safety rail and his head was leaning on the top of the seatback. His eyes were clenched tightly shut as he continued speaking.

"I just wanted to tell you that I liked you, too. I mean, I like you-I still do. I understand if you don't feel that way about me any more though. I just thought I should tell you. Just in case."

I sat stunned and mute for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts. I must have taken too long to respond because suddenly Edward was standing and walking swiftly away from me. I wanted to call him back. I wanted to tell him to wait, but my mouth would not cooperate.

I remained that way, mouth ajar, eyes wide open until Mom came back to help me down the stairs. She looked at me quizzically, but didn't comment on what must have been my shell-shocked expression.

I didn't notice if anyone paid the slightest attention to the gimpy girl riding her brother like a burro back to the van. I was still trying to wrap my head around the idea that Edward had told me he liked me. Then, and still.

We went back to the hotel where the guys from the team all headed back down to the pool. Em tried to convince me to go down with them-I could at least float around a bit without having to put any weight on my foot. I decided that staying upstairs was probably my best bet. Mom gave me some of the pain medication before leaving to meet up with some of the other parents in the team room just down the hall. She also wrapped a facecloth through the door latch to keep the door ajar for Emmett who was so notorious for misplacing room keys that we didn't let him have one anymore. It also kept the door latch bar from slamming against the jamb when Emmett inevitably shoved the door open allowing it to swing shut behind him.

I settled on the bed with my foot elevated, book in hand and my Walkman playing my favorites tape while the television played some weird comedy show quietly in the background. It wasn't long before my eyelids were feeling heavy and my book was listing off to the side. I gave up, set the book and tape player on the night table and let myself drift off.

The heavenly aroma of food awoke me some time later. I blinked rapidly and squinted at the bright lights in the room trying to locate the source. Edward sat on the foot of the other bed, two take-out bags sitting beside his hip. I grunted in discomfort as I struggled into a sitting position.

"Um, hey. Sorry, I didn't know if I should wake you up. A bunch of us went out to grab some lunch. Garrett sent back a couple of things for you. Emmett was still eating, and you know how he can take a while when it comes to food. So, I said I'd just bring yours back." He spoke the words for my benefit, but he was speaking to the room in general. He wasn't looking at me at all.

"Thanks," I whispered.

He nodded then motioned to the bags. "What do you feel like? I've got a burger and onion rings combo or lasagna and garlic bread."

My mouth was already watering from just the smells, but pasta was my weakness. Everyone knew this. I raised my eyebrow and waited. When finally he looked up at me and saw my expression he snickered a bit before handing over the bag with the lasagna and bread.

"Wait, one second." Edward rummaged around the room and laid the extra pillows from the beds, two on each side of me, then set the lid from the cooler over my lap as a makeshift table. He grabbed a can for each of us out of the cooler and set mine on the bedside table before sitting at the small desk to eat.

I smiled and thanked him, then dug the food out and dove in. I couldn't believe how hungry I was, then suddenly realized I was eating like a starved person. I slowed the pace at which I was shoveling food into my mouth and tried to make better use of my manners. We ate in silence, with only the noise from the news program playing on the local station for background noise.

"What time is the next game?"

He finished chewing the bite of burger he'd just taken before answering me.

"We're supposed to leave in an hour."

I nodded my head and finished off the last bite of garlic bread. I knew Edward and I should probably talk about everything that had happened over Christmas and earlier today, but I had no idea where to start. In fact, I'd really rather pretend the whole thing had never happened. But if there was a chance that he might still want to see what could be…

I shifted my position to try and clean up my trash, but Edward was up quickly and helped me toss the containers and return the pillows and cooler lid to their places. He sat back down on the other bed; this time he kicked his shoes off and sat back against the headboard.

"Look, Edward," I started.

"Uh, Bella," he began at the same time.

He laughed awkwardly and shook his head. "Go ahead."

"Uh, ok. So, I know I acted like a bit of a freak over Christmas and with everything that happened…"

"Yeah, well, you weren't the only one. We all did some stupid shit." He frowned, and I decided to leave the apologies alone, for now.

"Okay. Well, let just pretend for a minute like none of that ever happened. Where do you think you and I… I mean, do you think… Would we, maybe…"

I really wished I could be all smooth and eloquent, but even with my advanced vocabulary I was fumbling for words. I wanted to ask him if he would have ever asked me out. If he had even thought about me that way, but I was too chicken to ask.

He was quiet for a moment while his eyes stayed focused on my foot.

"I don't know," he replied thoughtfully. "But what I do know is that, if you still want to, I'd like to maybe take you to a movie one day. Maybe next weekend if your ankle is better."

My heart began that stupid wild jumping thing it always did when I thought about me and Edward. I allowed myself a small grin and took slow breaths to try and keep at least my outward appearance calm as he continued.

"We can't go back. We could think about all the maybes, but we'd just be guessing." He looked at me, really looked at me for the first time all day. His eyes roamed my face before he smiled and said, "Why don't we just start with today and see where we go from here?"

I tried to reign myself in, but it was a lost cause. I grinned widely and answered, "That sounds like a great idea."


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: Thanks again to PTB for the once-over of this chapter. I'm toying with the idea of skipping the beta process to try and get these out to you a little bit quicker. I'm slow enough as it is, so making you wait for beta review seems more cruel than kind. Anyone care to try and talk me out of this foolishness?**

**CHAPTER 24:**

EMMETT

Over the weekend, between hockey games, the guys played Manhunt, hung out at the pool and played shinny out in the tennis courts behind the hotel. Most of the guys took turns staying with Bella playing card games like Crazy 8s or some of the hand-held electronic games they'd brought along. She felt bad for "making them entertain her" but most of them didn't really mind. Everybody loved Bella. You just couldn't help it.

Dad wasted no time reminding me that there should always be a couple of guys around with Edward and Bella. He didn't want them left alone together. After he'd sent Edward back with lunch after the first game, I think he realized that he'd just left the two of them alone, in a hotel room, for hours. Mom, Esme and Elizabeth took turns checking in on our room to keep an eye on things and to make sure there wasn't anything Bella needed.

I assured him that nothing had happened, or was likely to happen. One, because I'd rip Ed's head from his shoulders, and two, because our Bella just wasn't like that. Once we returned however, it was plain to see that something had changed. They were practically joined at the hip and had nothing but smiles to share with each other.

The rest of the games went well for us. Ed seemed to have pulled his head out of his ass and got it back into the game. We ended up finishing in second place.

Bella could get around without the crutches when we got back home, though she was still hobbling a bit. She was still pretty slow. I tried to help her out as much as I could, but she started snapping at me so I guess I was being a little overbearing.

The weekend after the tournament we all met up with Ed and Birdy at the movie theaters to see a show. Bella looked pretty annoyed when we all showed up.

A few days later we all met up at the local ice cream shop for dessert. She looked pretty annoyed that day too.

When I asked Jasper if he was going to meet us all at the bowling alley a few nights later, he told me that Rose told him that the rest of us were going to the pool hall instead. I was sure Ed had said he and Bella were going bowling. When Ed and Bella didn't show up to play pool, I chided Rose chanting that I was right and she was wrong. She called me a dumb-ass and rolled her eyes at me.

After a few similar incidents, I finally figured out that Bella, with Alice and Rose's help, was making sure that she got to spend some time away from the group with Ed. As spring rolled around, Ed and Bella were spending a lot of time together. This wouldn't have been a big deal - the fact that my friend dating my sister _was_ a pretty big deal - except that Jasper and Alice were still kind of weird around each other and he'd started hanging out with us less. He'd made friends with some guys from one of his music classes and spent his free time with them instead.

I tried hanging out with some of the guys from my classes, but they just didn't understand my sense of humour. I decided to turn my lemons into lemonade and got a job as a maintenance man at the rink closest to home. I spent my days at school, my evenings at work and my free time wondering how the hell I'd found myself down a group of friends and feeling like a social outcast.

I was lying on my bed listening to the radio and bouncing a tennis ball off the wall contemplating my life when I heard knocking on my door.

"Yeah? Come in." I tilted my head back so I could see who was there.

"Can you knock that off please?" Bella asked, pointing to the tennis ball in my hand. "I'm gonna go to bed."

I was caught off guard because Bella was usually hanging out with Ed. I peeked at my clock and saw that it was only nine o'clock.

"Everything okay, B?"

She shrugged and opened her mouth to speak. Then shook her head and walked out of my room.

I debated chasing her down to ask her about it, but decided against it.

*~ATR~*

BELLA

The first date Edward asked me out on ended up being more of a group outing than a date. I don't know whether he invited everyone to join us, or if they all just assumed it was a group thing. I never asked.

The second time we went out and it happened, I asked him. He told me he'd mentioned to Jasper that he was going to take me for ice cream and he guessed Jasper had assumed that was an invitation.

When he asked me to go bowling, I asked Rose to make sure Jasper understood he wasn't to show up. Bitchy? Probably. When I went out with Edward, I actually wanted to spend time _with_ Edward. The first two dates might have been me hanging out with the girls and him hanging out with the guys. We barely spoke to each other either night. He spent the time laughing and joking with the guys and the girls stuck to me like glue while gabbing about shopping and spreading gossip.

We had fun bowling and there was no shortage of conversation, but it still felt more like hanging out with a friend. I didn't know what to do to move things forward and he just seemed happy with the way things were going so I didn't push it.

As the weather improved we spent most of our free time together hanging out. The first time Edward tried to kiss me I practically head-butted him. I hadn't seen him lean in and shifted in my seat just in time to catch his chin with my eyebrow. He backed off and held my hand for the rest of the movie. I tried to shuffle more towards him in my seat, and he did put his arm across the back of my seat, but he didn't attempt another kiss.

Three more dates went by and though we had made out a bit, Edward still seemed to be holding back. Once the summer sports teams had started in full swing, our time together was cut down to a couple of times a week. Edward was playing baseball and soccer and helping his father coach a little league team.

I'd hoped that when his schedule sorted itself out, we'd be able to squeeze some time in to be together, but it never really happened. I'd see him in the classes we shared at school, and we'd walk part of the way home together, but I rarely saw him in the evenings and he was always busy trying to catch up on assignments during the weekends. Though Edward was a decent student, he had to put in extra effort to get the grades his parents expected.

I'd tried not to take it personally. I knew that Edward wasn't busy to avoid spending time with me. I couldn't help but feel a little cast aside.

When his commitments started taking over, I started feeling more like he was obliged to spend time with me rather than wanting to. I starting telling him that _I_ was busy the nights he did have time to hang out. I made plans to go shopping, which I hated, with some of the girls from school instead of being home when I knew he was coming over with the rest of the guys. I could have handled things better and we might have been able to make it work, but I was still feeling uncertain about everything and figured this was the easiest thing for both of us. This way, nobody would be really hurt when things fell apart like they inevitably do.

Once summer vacation started and I found out that Edward was going to be working at a job his mom's friend had arranged for him with a landscaping company, I knew that outside of occasional meetings, our dating relationship was over.

I convinced Emmett to get his boss to hire me at the recreation center where he worked. Rose was volunteering to help with kids' swimming lessons as part of her quest to become a full-time lifeguard and hanging out with just Alice was still mostly awkward, no matter how much we both wished it wasn't. There was no way I was going to be able to spend my summer with the girls from school who lived and breathed for boys and clothes. If I was going to be alone all summer, I might as well get a job and make some money.

While spending the majority of my summer working at the center, I learned the art of pool maintenance, mopped more floors clean of various sticky substances than I could identify and learned how to smile and nod even when people were being horribly rude to me while I worked the front desk. I cleaned up sopping wet dirty diapers and toddler puke from the outdoor water play area and disposed of used feminine hygiene products left in the pool change rooms until I felt like puking myself.

Sometimes I'd hear stories from Emmett of how he'd seen Edward here or there. The first time I'd heard about his 'friend' Irina, I was irrationally jealous. After all, I'd been the one to start distancing myself from him.

If I was in the room, nobody said anything, but I'd caught snippets of conversations that gave me enough information. She was the daughter of Edward's mom's friend. The one who'd given him the job. She worked with him almost every day. She was tall, blonde and athletic. Everything I was not. She fawned all over him. Chased him until she caught him. And then there was the kicker. She was older. Two whole years older. So that was that then. There was no way I could compete with that.

*~ATR~*

EDWARD

The first couple of times I asked Bella out, I'd been a complete moron and told my friends about our plans. Apparently I never specified that these were supposed to be private dates because our idiot friends showed up at the same places and insinuated themselves right into our movie date and dessert night.

I'm not sure exactly what Bella did, but I know that something was said because we finally got to spend some time alone at the bowling alley. It was weird and wonderful at the same time. Emmett had pulled me aside at the movies and told me that he wasn't going to make a big deal out of me and his sister dating, but that I better watch myself or he'd make sure I regretted it.

I did try and kiss her when he ran out to piss, but it didn't work out so well and I ended up with a sore chin and Bella got a bruise just over her eyebrow. After that I just decided to hold her hand and put my arm around her. Emmett didn't say anything, but he was openly glaring at my arm across her shoulders.

I'd had other opportunities to try and make a move, but when we started to move past kissing into other more vigorous activities, all I could see in my imagination was Emmett pounding me with his huge fists and overgrown biceps.

When baseball season started up, I had less time to spend with Bella but we squeezed time in when we could. Soccer season started up soon after that and almost all my free time seemed to have been eaten. Being this busy never bothered me before, but I was finding it hard to squeeze in time for everything I wanted to do. I tried to make time to spend with Bella, but then my friends would complain that I never saw them. If I tried to spend time with my friends, my mom started complaining that my parents never saw me. I was exhausted and feeling pulled in a million different directions.

I could tell when it had been enough for Bella. She stopped calling me. She started taking longer and longer to return my calls. She started making excuses for why she couldn't come out or she'd have made plans with girls I knew she didn't even really like.

I should have gone over and just talked to her about it, but I'm a guy. Deep discussions about feelings just did not appeal to me so I did what pretty much any guy would do. I focused on the things left that I still had going on and forgot about everything else. Mostly.

I was hoping that once school was over I'd have more time to spend with Bella, but my parents told me they'd set me up with a great summer job opportunity and that was the end of those hopes.

I spent my days breaking my back shoveling, mowing, scraping, lifting and hauling rocks and sod. It was hard work, but I made good money. A couple of weeks in, the boss's daughter joined our crew and the eye candy didn't hurt. She was flirty and fun but I wasn't interested. The more I put her off, the harder she chased. I tried calling Bella a few more times to see if I could salvage the situation, but she never even called me back. Soon enough, I accepted one of Irina's invitations and we started hanging out after work. She was good at keeping me distracted.

I heard through Emmett that he'd helped Bella get a job at the Rec Center he worked at. I found myself with some free time one Saturday afternoon near the end of summer so I headed down there to see if I could talk to her. Irina had gone off to university and told me she wanted to be free to enjoy the experience so she was breaking up with me. I felt like such a fool. I hadn't realized that she and I were 'dating'. I thought we were just friends with benefits. Yeah, I'm that kind of clueless.

When I turned the corner of the building to see if Bella was working outside after I wasn't able to find her inside, I stopped dead in my tracks. Bella was sitting along a low wall with a guy lying diagonally, his head in her lap. She was playing with his hair over his forehead and laughing at whatever he was saying. They kept looking over to the soccer field where a couple of other maintenance guys were mowing and re-marking the field and whatever comments he was making were obviously entertaining her.

I stood watching them for a few moments before I realized that our time was over. She was obviously with someone new. I turned tail and scurried away before someone caught me gawking.


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: I've decided to post the last chapter without having it beta'd. You can expect some comma issues and possible tense issues. I apologize for them, but I don't think they'll be bad enough to justify delaying the final update further than it already is delayed by my unpredictable writing process. If you find any glaring errors, please let me know and I will attempt to correct them.**

**CHAPTER 25:**

EDWARD

I had barely retreated back around the building when I was stopped dead upon impact with a solid wall of flesh.

I stumbled backward and only avoided falling because of Emmett's grip on my bicep.

"Where the hell are you running off to like your ass is on fire? I thought you were going to find Bella."

"Uh, yeah. I found her. She was with her new boyfriend." I sneered at him. "I didn't want to interrupt."

He raised one eyebrow at me but didn't utter a word. He tightened his grip on my arm and hauled me behind him as he headed back the way I'd just come.

"Jeez, Em. Let me go. I don't need to be humiliated like this. Seriously. Let me go." I knew I sounded like a whiny wimp, but I really didn't care. I just wanted to get out of there with at least some of my pride intact.

"What you _need_," he growled, "what you _both_ need, is to get your heads out of your asses and _talk to each other_."

He let go of my arm but gave me a look that left no doubt that he expected me to continue to follow him. I toyed with the idea of making a run for it but even if I got away now, he'd track me down and make me regret it later. I fell into step beside him, hanging my head and watching my feet as I walked.

The newly-cut grass left green streaks across the toes of my Converse, and I studied the patterns rather that look the way we were headed.

Emmett cleared his throat. "Hey man," he addressed the guy who was now sitting beside Bella. "Can you do me a favour and help me move some equipment? Edward here wants to talk to Birdy for a bit anyway."

I looked up and gave the intruder a quick once-over. He was more muscular than me, but nothing like Em. I could see how B would find his dark eyes and tanned skin attractive. I hated it, but I could see it. I frowned as Bella and this other guy gave each other some weird look. She nodded at him and he shook his head before he nodded at Em. I watched, still standing awkwardly in front of Bella, as Emmett and his new best friend walked away.

"So, who's the jerk?" _Crap. Probably could have started with something less nasty._

"Really, Edward? You came all the way out here to insult my friend?" Bella glared at me as she stood up and began to stomp away from me. I stood and watched her go before I realized I was making the same mistake all over again.

"Bella... Bella, stop. Please. I'm sorry." I ran and caught up to her. Reaching out, I grasped her elbow and turned her back toward me.

She huffed and rolled her eyes at me before shaking off my grip and crossing her arms across her chest. She gave me her best withering "What now?" look.

I took a deep breath and decided to just spill my guts and hope for the best.

"I'm not really sure what happened with us. I know things got a little busy and I know you felt like I didn't want to spend time with you, but that just isn't true. I did. I _do_ want to spend time with you. In fact, I'd love to spend all of my time with you. I can't though. I have things I need to do, and so do you." _Look at me trying to be all mature._

Bella's arms had dropped from their defensive stance and she was now playing with the edges of her fingernails and staring at her hands. I reached out tentatively and brushed my fingers down the back of her hand. I wanted to take her hands in mine but I wasn't sure if she'd want that.

"If you'll let me, I'd like to try and make this work. Make _us _work. I don't know how to do it, or if it's possible, but I have to hope it is possible. If we both try really hard and don't let all the other stuff come between us, we can do this… Uh, I mean, if you want to. If you haven't already found someone else…"

I looked off in the direction that Emmett had gone and frowned. What if I was too late? What if that guy was interested in Bella and she was interested in him? What if I waited too long to get my shit together and some other guy had already…

"Edward, I know how busy you are and that you have friends to see and a job and helping your Dad, I just don't see how adding more for you to deal with is fair to either of us."

"You aren't just something else to deal with, Bella. I really like you. I've always really liked you. I was just too stupid to realize I should have told you that."

Her shy responding smile gives me hope that I haven't lost all chance of being with her.

*~ATR~*

BELLA

After Edward and I finished laying out our schedules and new expectations, we headed back in to the rink. When Edward and I walked back into the arena holding hands I caught Emmett winking at Edward and saw Jake scowling at us. I couldn't really blame him. It seemed like I'd been bitching to him about Edward forever. When I really took the time to think about it, I realized that I didn't tell him about all the fun things we'd done or any of the sweet things he's done for me over the years. No wonder he thought I was out of my mind giving Edward another chance.

My break was over much too quickly. I wanted to freeze time and just enjoy the fact that Edward and I were back on track. I blushed like crazy when Edward leaned in and kissed my cheek to let me get back to work. Emmett laughed and pretended to chase him from the building. At least I hoped he was pretending. Jake headed back to our house to pack up his stuff. His flight left that evening to head back home. I was so glad Mom and Garrett had agreed to let him stay with us while his family was away on some kind of retreat. He'd been able to talk them into staying with us instead of going with them. It was a nice change to have him on my home turf and to get the chance to show him the other part of my life. I wished that I had been able to take more time off work to hang out, but it was only a part time job and I needed as many shifts as I could get so that I had some spending money.

Edward and I started off small during the summer. We squeezed in a few minutes wherever we could. Edward would meet me when my shift ended at the arena and walk me home when he could. I'd go over to his place after dinner and we'd watch TV until he fell asleep on the nights I didn't work and neither of us had other plans. He always swore he wasn't tired but I could see that he was wiped out after getting up at four or five in the morning and working in the sun all day.

We tried to make sure that we still had time to spend individually with our friends and got together in large groups other times.

Once school started, things were definitely harder. I still had my part time job on evenings and weekends and Edward worked all weekend long. We had one class together and made sure our desks were together. Edward would spend most of the class playing with the ends of my hair and thoroughly distracting me. I eventually made him swap desks.

We spent time doing our homework at my kitchen table or his. We snuggled in our individual beds with the telephone receiver cradled to our ears. We shared several romantic firsts, but my favorites by far were the more innocent ones. Hours spent huddled together cuddling. Kissing. Sharing our hopes and dreams for the future.

It wasn't easy, and we had our fair share of disagreements, but we were both committed to our fledgling relationship. Whether I felt that I had to fight off the bimbo squad who had decided that I wasn't good enough for Edward — or whether Edward had to scare off the new boy at school who thought I was playing hard to get when I wouldn't accept his repeated date requests — we presented a united front. We made sure to keep our individual needs and wants as much of a priority as spending time together. We learned a lot of lessons and grew up quite a bit over the next few years. Our future was ahead of us full of promise and I couldn't wait for each new experience with my best friend and boyfriend.

**FINAL A/N: I originally had much more in store for this story. However, I learned along the way that I'd bitten off more than I could chew as far as the amount of time I could devote to writing and issues with the way I write. This story suffered because of my decision to post as I went. There were many scenes I would have added, but I didn't feel I could go back and add. There were many things I wish I'd written differently or plot points that should have been rearranged. I apologize if this story leaves you feeling disappointed or unsatisfied.**

**Lessons have been learned.**

**I can not adequately express how much I appreciate everyone who ever assisted or encouraged me. I should mention you each by name, but I'm terrified I would forget someone. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to join me on this journey.**

**Cheers,**

**Sherrie**


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